Soul of Chogokin GX-48 The Big O Part 4 [Final]

No term
A look at the display base of Soul of Chogokin The Big O.


Parts for the display base.


Name display on the base.


A very cool feature of having the opening message from the anime on the back of the base. ^^


Dedicated spaces on the two display base hangers to mount the Cannon and Missile Party parts.


When the hangers are combined, the entire component bears close resemblance of Big O's body. Quite a nifty touch there by the designer. ^^


Dedicated pins and slot on the display base to mount all the accessories.


With so few accessories included, all the items placed on the display base doesn't take up much space at all.



Just the right space for the both feet to fit onto the display base, making the standing pose pretty much standardized for all who own this figure.





Some nice views from certain angles. ^^
A very simple but practical display base for Big O. It's somewhat the "generic" type in my opinion, since the overall design doesn't really have any connection with the design of the robot, or the world where it came from, although having that mysterious text from the anime molded on the back of the base definitely made it exclusive for Big O.

Again, with so few accessories given, the whole base has a very simplistic feel to it. That's kind of good for display, but that can also translate into the content of this figure being quite 孤寒 (stingy). ^^; For a 12,800 Yen (exclusive of tax) hefty price tag, it's kind of hard not to imagine why some of other smaller items like the Moby Dick anchors or Roger's car are not included but being released in a separate set instead, and a limited version some more. Announced in August 2009, the expansion set is 6,000 Yen (exclusive of tax), but getting it through a proxy buyer would definitely be more expensive than normal releases of the same Japanese Yen price. Then again, while I'm not too pleased with that, I had made up my mind to get it. Unfortunately, after a long period of waiting, I was informed that the supplier couldn't secure a set for me, and it was pretty much gone after all that while. Too bad for me, but it doesn't make the existing figure flawed in any way. Expansion set, as the name implied, is supposed to be complimentary to the said item, not compulsory items to fill in any blank left by the figure.

The reason why this review came out so long after I first got the figure actually. I was initially hoping to review it together with the expansion set. ^^;

With that said, here's a look at all the extra goodies from the limited expansion set and the design features on the figure itself to integrate with these extra parts.

Good stuff I can never get ^^;


Panel in front of the foot that can be opened.



Serves as an alternate entry point for Roger (in his car) to get into Big O.
Make sense I suppose, since one can't always jump off tall buildings to get to the giant robot XD


Roger's batmobile car, "Griffon" from expansion set.


For such a small fixed figure, the details are pretty close to its depiction in the anime.


Alternately, Roger can just walk out of the robot just like that from the hanger door on the foot.


Four "corners" on Big O's skirt are detachable. They are for the part swapping of 4 Moby Dick anchors from the expansion set.


Real chains for each of the anchors.


Not much application when it can't be launched like how it did in the anime I suppose.



In the anime, every sharp point on Big O's skirt is shown to be one of anchors. That's 16 in total. Having all that incorporated on the figure would be a massive challenge to the look of the skirt I believe.


The anchor is not a big weapon in size, so its role is usually to support Big O's other attacks, and occasionally the robot itself from falling. ^^




The biggest items in the expansion set: two new arms with expandable panels and beam parts for Big O's "O Thunder" finishing move.





Pretty much a giant 4-barrel beam gatling gun per arm. Only seen in Season 2.



Some over-the-top move with "O Thunder" to decapitate Big Duo Inferno in that epic fight against Alan Gabriel. Like "Sudden Impact", the destructive force of the beam can penetrate a few building blocks in a straight line. ^^;


Also in the expansion set are two extra head units: the archetype (left) and anime image type (middle).


From the anime, a glimpse on Big O's archetype head when the mask was about to be placed on top of it.


Also included in the expansion set, two spread palms for more expressive action poses, especially if you want to recreate the scene of Big O's debut.




Detachable parts on all corners of the display base to be used to mount the anchors.


There's a slot behind the base to connect to a smaller extra base from the expansion set.


A piece of plate in front of the base that can be detached for some unknown reasons (to park Roger's car inside it maybe?)


The "total complete" set. ^^



The extended base and stands that are packed with all the extra weapon parts.

Most of the parts that are selected for the expansion set are emphasized more in Season 2. "O Thunder" for example, was never used in Season 1. Is the difference in season change the reason behind the separation of the accessories into regular release and limited set? I'm not sure on that. As mentioned before, some of the items are just minor to not be included in the regular release, even though they don't really show up in Season 1. They are stuff out of my reach anyway. ^^;

On the other hand, Season 2 of the anime also introduced 2 "crazier" design features for Big O:



"Plasma Gimmick" - Armors on Big O expand to force a powerful energy field that vaporizes its enemy.







"Final Stage" - Grand finale weapon of doom transformed from Big O's chest. Used together with Moby Dick anchors and Plasma Gimmick.



One hit and an entire city dome is destroyed, but missing the enemy by half its body. ^^;



Big O's transport train that runs from Roger's mansion to basically everywhere.
Looking at the screen shots featuring Big O's attack moves, one of the very interesting features of the robot that I didn't mention in the introduction is how "O", literally "O", or big "O" is being inserted when almost all those moves are executed. For example a fiery ring for the first "Sudden Impact" on Dorothy-1 , a huge crater on the ground when "Sudden Impact" was dropped on Big Duo, the ring of smoke that appear when all the Moby Dick anchors were launched onto the three Megadeuses, a single beam ring when "O Thunder" was fired upon Glinda and Beck the Great RX3, and a double beam ring when the same weapon was used on Big Duo Inferno. There are other little nifty things in the anime that show the iconic theme of big "O", like a laser ring that activates in Roger's watch when he calls for Big O, the round sewage cap on the road in the first episode when Big O made its debut, the round display panel inside the pilot cockpit and many others. Those are some really clever ways to link to the name of the robot and ultimately the entire show, which is really cool in my opinion. Unlike some other mecha with cool names just to be cool, I can definitely see how well the designers plan for all the features on Big O, and I think they had a great time playing around with those ideas too.

A lot of comments I have about this Soul of Chogokin figure are inserted in the last two parts of this review, so I'm not going to repeat them here. It's a very unique action figure, very expensive yes ^^; but the feel, quality and gimmicks are totally worth the money, maybe more so if you're a fan of the show or the mecha. It's a little "lonely" without all the extra items from the limited expansion set, but without them, it's still an awesome display item.

All reviews on Soul of Chogokin GX-48 The Big O:
Part 1: The Black Megadeus
Part 2: Big O, Show Time!
Part 3: Big O, Action!
Part 4 [Final]: No term

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Soul of Chogokin GX-48 The Big O

Images of Tamashii Web Shop's limited expansion set for Soul of Chogokin The Big O are from this, this and this previous posting.