#goldymarg

I've had this kit since, what? Last December? January? And only now I'm putting her together. Shame on me.

I'm sorry, Goldymarg. Have an apology treat.

Brave Gokin GaoGaiGar

I had been looking for the GaoGaiGar stuff from the Brave Gokin line for some time, but I always wanted to get most of them in a single order. Luckily, they apparently released a limited edition box set that comes with GaoGaiGar, the Goldymard and Star accessories, Dimension Pliers, GaoFightGar, GaiGo, and a gold figurine of Guy. It was also surprisingly cheap for being unopened 18-20 year old toys, with the entire set coming out to less than $50 a toy. I mean, shipping something that big wasn't cheap, but at least I saved on the products. I was super happy with the deal I got on these guys.

Too bad they suck.

The Good: It does all the things. Lion Mode, Robot Mode, Combined Mode, weird alternate combinations. It also has a bunch of accessories, like the Hell and Heaven hands, effect parts to recreate Broken Magnum and Protect Shade, the Dividing Driver, a Zondar Core, and a few other small things. On the surface, it looks like everything you'd want out of a GaoGaiGar.

The Bad: Except age has not treated this thing well. Heck, I'm not sure it was good to begin with? One of my Galeon's knees was broken out of the box, and the other broke as I was finishing up taking photos. (It was a small mushroom peg? This thing has a bunch of diecast; why didn't they make it bigger?) Its joint tolerances are also bad, often being super tight or way too loose, and very little in between. And it doesn't hold together very well. The chest additions as GaoGaiGar don't even peg in. It's the most disappointed I've been with a toy since I accidentally got a Korean Kyoryujin instead of Brave Dino King. It's such a bummer.

But we're not done yet. I said this was a box set, and I plan on getting all these disappointments out of the way, all at once. Strap in, folks.

Goldymarg and Stealth Gao II Upgrade Set + Dimension Pliers

Still hoping they eventually do these parts for the RG kit they did. I know it's been a while, so it's unlikely, but I can dream.

The Good: It looks nice.

On the note of Dimension Pliers, I was surprised to find it was a model kit, but because of that, it's the most solid of this set of releases, mostly because the tolerances are technically new. It's not perfect, but all the individual robots look good, the combined mode is both solid and huge, and it also has a wrench configuration that I show off in a later photo.

The Bad: Tolerances on Goldymarg are bad, and the hand has no tension, so it can't hold the hammer. The new parts for Stealth Gao are also weak connections and fall apart easily.

Brave Gokin GaoFighGar

I'll say this, I wasn't aware of how different the new Gao Machines were until handling them. There's actually a lot of differences between them.

The Good: All the armor parts are swappable between all the bodies, so if you want to use Stealth Gao II, Drill Gao II, Broken Gao, Protect Gao, and Galeon, you can, which is a really cool bonus to collecting the line. I mean, don't, but if you did. The drills also do this cool expand-contract thing.

The Bad: FighGar has very weak tolerances. It also has a number of parts that just pop off, and the armatures for the chest/shoulders are too tough, so I'm worried they'll bend. The vehicle mode is also kind of crap; doesn't hold together and isn't easy to transform.

The Gao Machines also feel much more rickety than FighGar, since a lot of FighGar is diecast, and none of the Gao Machines are.

Brave Gokin GaiGo/GaoGaiGo

So the reason I specifically wanted the Brave Gokin versions of the GaoGaiGar crew was specifically because of this release. To my knowledge, this is the only DX-style release of GaiGo, and I really wanted a GaiGo. I think GaiGo is really neat. And, luckily enough, it's the best release of this set, which is crazy because this came out way before the manga did, and GaiGo became prevalent. This was designed based off the few second teaser it got post Final.

The Good: The GaiGo transformation is simple, but pretty cool. My favorite part is that the cover for the heads are based on gravity, so just turning it upsidown reveals the new head. The tolerances are also better here than the other two bodies.

It's also almost entirely diecast, which is cool.

The Bad: The shoulders don't attach as well as with the others; they lay closer to straight than the v-shape the others have. The waist comes apart pretty easy. And the neck guard that I like as GaiGo gets in the way of the helmet. It just doesn't wear the armors as well as GaiGar and FighGar.

Overall, don't buy these. They have aged very poorly, and they will more than likely be a frustration for you than anything else. There are plenty of better releases for most of these machines in other lines, though I believe GaiGo only has a Super Minipla as an alternative.

RG Goldymarg

Man, this thing just makes me want more units from GaoGaiGar. I've had my eyes on the Brave Gokin versions of Star GaoGaiGar, GaiGo, and GaoFighGar for a while, but still haven't pulled the trigger because of a mix of overall expense, not being in a single location, and Mandarake's shipping being more expensive than other sites. I'd love it if they just did model kit versions of them all since there'd be a lot of shared engineering, but it's been a while since GaoGaiGar and Goldymarg released with no word, so only time will tell if we'll see any other members of GGG.

The Good: Goldymarg is a solid multi-form robot with a very fun build. All the weird accordioning the hammer does, all the added joints for transformation, the little tricks it uses to pull off its on-screen details. Goldymarg has a good range of motion in most of its joints, the MargTank has a neat transformation, and the MargHand is heavy but has a better range of finger posability than GaoGaiGar's included hands. It also includes a left hand if you wanted to build a second one, though it doesn't include the palm piece.

The Bad: There are two major downsides to Goldymarg. The first is the pegs that hold the arms in place as MargTank and MargHand are always extended and get in the way of its shoulders. The second is the legs have so many transformation joints that don't really lock into place, which makes them weird to pose. It doesn't help that the ankles come off for the MargTank, and they fall off sometimes.

The Details: For paint, I just applied panel lining. Its colors are very well distributed and replicated, so there isn't much else to do. I used a few of the stickers, including a few of the GGG stickers, all the reflective stickers (excluding the ones other the eyes, which I just panel lined), and the raised plastic stickers.

Overall, it's a great upgrade for GaoGaiGar, and a decent kit on its own. I don't know why you'd want to own it without GaiGaiGar, but if you do manage to get it first, it's a fun time and a decent kit.

Crossframe Girl Star GaoGaiGar and Goldymarg

Though I usually refer to them as GaoGaiGal and Galdymarg. I bought two copies of this kit; the first to straight build so I can understand its construction, and the second so I could use it for parts for a custom based on my Jupiter Theory, since they're much more slimmed down than stuff like the RG and SMP.

The Good: This set of kits sets out to do a lot, and is quite successful in a lot of it. Starting from the ground up, the base body for GaoGaiGal has many different configurations: standard, Galeon, GaiGar, and GaoGaiGar. They do require parts swaps, but they are effective.

Then Stealth Gao, Liner Gao, and Drill Gao are all Good recreations. And while Liner Gao has some parts forming due to what it needs to accomplish for this kit, Stealth Gao only sheds a few parts, and Drill Gao requires none of that.

This set is also able to accomplish all the minor forms, like Stealth Gao being able to carry Liner Gao, and GaiGal utilizing the alternate forms of Stealth Gao and Drill Gao.

Moving on to the GaoGaiGal configuration, she can do everything you'd expect the real one to do. Use the Dividing Driver, Hell and Heaven, you can use larger robot hands or can swap them for the normal white hands, there's an alternate configuration that gives her four arms. It's quite a lot, and we haven't even started talking about Galdymarg and the Stealth Gao II yet.

Speaking of, Galdymarg also has a few different outfit options: basic, schoolgirl, and schoolgirl with hammer backpack. I believe this is also the first time Crossframe Girl has done this smaller body type? I tried looking, but this was the only one I could find, which is kind of neat it first appeared as a crossover kit, if that's true.

Her larger accessories also have several different configurations, like reconverting parts of her outfit and hammer into a little tank scooter, or adding a few parts to Stealth Gao II to make a sky bike. She also has several hand modes.

Stealth Gao II also adds new functionality to GaoGaiGal in the Gattling Driver and Levitation Rings.

The Bad: While GaoGaiGal does a lot, she's not very stable. While all the vehicles, and even Galdymarg are quite solid in their construction, GaoGaiGal constantly fell apart on me. Head would fall off, hair would fall out, chest would pop off, arms would pop off, etc. And because most of these parts are meant to be swapped out, you can't glue them.

Also, and especially because of the arms falling off, it's very hard to effectively utilize the hammer. The RG has a small base to help hold it up, but this kit only has a little clip that you're supposed to attach to a stand, except it requires a long peg that's not standard for most stands.

The Details: Because of how many different conversions this kit has, I took photos as I went. Because of that, I really only panel lined. This kit comes with a small amount of stickers that I just didn't use because I forgot until half-way through.

Overall, this is a very interesting kit, even if it isn't the most solid. I can think of several reasons to buy it, but I can't really give it a heavy recommendation? I hope this gives you some idea of what you're getting into before you take the plunge, at least.

Also, I definitely took more photos than Tumblr allows on a single post, so this might not even be everything it can do.