Revoltech Getter Dragon

Got this from HobbyLink Japan, the 125mm tall Revoltech Getter Dragon by Kaiyodo that was released in September of 2009. Getter Dragon holds a very special place in my heart because I grew up watching the Jim Terry produced Force Five. This particular toy was modeled after the Getter Dragon in Change! Getter Dragon. It lacks the yellow and light blue colors that denote the Getter Liger and Getter Poseidon crafts that helped merge to form Getter Dragon.

Getter Dragon first appeared in Go Nagai's Getter Robo G anime series and was repackaged in the US as Starvengers to be part of the Force Five series of Jim Terry. I have to point out that the Getter Robo G opening sound track is one of the catchiest I've ever heard, one reason too why it appealed to me.

As for the Change! Getter Dragon anime, I really have nothing good to say about it. Because the creators of that Getter series butchered a favored and cherished childhood memory by turning the latter part of the Getter franchise into some dark-twisted-morbid and sick tale. The giant robot series was my entry point in to the wonderful world of anime, at that time of innocence everything was so simply put, black and white, good versus evil. So for me, Getter ended with the Getter G series. Change! Getter Dragon was so bad that I didn't bother finishing the last few episodes...make it stop please make it stop!

As like most of my reviews, first the bad news. The spikes and blades found in this toy are pretty sharp (particularly on the Getter Tomahawks and shoulder blades), so I wouldn't let a kid play with this as he/she might end up bloodied. I know where I'm coming from with this as I had a pretty huge wound on my foot as a boy after stepping on my Grandizer toy.

I was play acting at that time and I thought I was a big robot stepping on Grandizer. To which I did and I ended up with a single hole in my foot from one of the horns of that Grandizer toy. So one shouldn't underestimate the lengths that a child's imagination will take them to when playing with toys *snicker*

When fiddling with the toy, some paint chipped off on the hands as I tried to get the Getter Tomahawks on. Something to keep in mind when you are thinking of applying force to this toy. Looking at the quality of the painting I noticed that some panel lines weren't completely done in some parts of the toy. No biggie however for me as in general I like the toy a lot. But of course I have to point out that there is a bias in my review as aforementioned that Getter Dragon was a cherished childhood memory.

As always, the sculpting of Katsuhisa Yamaguchi for the Revoltech line is excellent. But that's to be expected from Kaiyodo toys. And also like in all Revoltech toys, the Revolver joints design that they are touting is something definitely to be admired in an engineering and poseability perspective. If you like posing your toys you will really have fun with this. You can actually buy spare Revoltech joints and other accesories from the Revoltech line. Quite nifty if you are into scratch building your kits.

Aside from the Getter Dragon toy, the kit also comes with other accesories. Such as a two piece stand with revoltech joint, spare hands, two Getter Tomahawks, spare head with Getter Beam firing action, two part mach wing set, Beam Effect part that mimic a flash when firing into the ground and two Getter Tomahawks co-joined to form a Boomerang which you can use to simulate the Getter Tomahawks flying through the air. The kit also comes with an orange Revocontainer to store your parts in and coin-like Revo Chip worth 10 points.

So if you ask me, I'm happy having this toy in my collection as it means that once again I get to keep another favored and cherished childhood experience in my display cabinet. It no longer just resides in my memory. It also makes for a great conversation piece with my son as I tell him tales from my childhood as we look at my collection.

Box Shots

Photos of the box, some of them are next to a 12 inch ruler for comparison.

Side of the box

Bottom of the box

Top of the box

Two piece vacuum formed container to house the toy and the parts

The hallow underside of the container is where the stand and its parts are taped on at.

Accesories & Parts

Pulling out the toy from its vacuum formed casing you will notice that there is some plastic covering at the torso and the back of the leg. To remove the plastic from the torso you'll have to pull apart at the abdomen, quite easily done.

Two part stand with revolver joint that connects to the Gluteus Maximus of Getter Dragon

Two part Mach wing that attaches to the back of Getter Dragon

One of the two sets of hands, this is the open type. Unique about this is that it can flex at the joint giving you more poses for the Getter Dragon

Another view of this hand type

Weapon hand which has a gap large enough to fit the Getter Tomahawk's through. While trying to force the Tomahawks through however I chipped some of the paint off. I was surprised actually that the paint in the hand was what came off and not of the gold parts at the ends of the Tomahawk.

Another view of this hand type

Revo Chip worth 10 points

This is actually the front side of that chip

The toy comes with a spare Revo Container that you can stick your parts in. Quite generous of Kaiyodo really to add this freebie.

Tomahawk Boomarang. Becareful as the blade and spikes are very sharp.

You can mount it on the stand and spin it to give it that Tomahawk Boomerang Effect

Spare Getter Dragon head but with the Getter Beam firing effect added to it. Take caution when removing the head as you might break off the horns and front mask of Getter Dragon if you apply too much force. The ruler next to it will you give you idea just how small the head and horns of Getter Dragon really is.

Here is a shot of the head swapped with the original head of the Getter Dragon

This is the lone beam effect part that comes with the toy that you can use in your diorama display.

This is another angle of the beam effect part

Here it is combined with the Getter beam effect head, quite a cool looking feature really.

Two Getter Tomahawks are included with this toy. Like with the Boomerang, be careful with these parts as the blade and spikes are very sharp.

This is something I haven't seen in a long time in a toy and thought had gone the way of the dinosaurs, into extinction. Pamphlets inside the box with a catalog of the different Revoltech and Kaiyodo toys.