Soul of Chogokin Titanus Review - Part 1

Not even a full year later, here we are again — possibly for the last time. But it's okay, because we have with us a legendary god who carries with it the eggs of a possible rebirth.
We all knew this was coming, but I didn't gamble on either fact of so soon nor for so little cost (in relative terms).

Soul of Chogokin GX-85 King Brachion

Known to the rest of the world as Titanus

So, I don't have the same kind of attachment to the Titanus as I had the Dragonzord or the Megazord. However, I did have a bitterness with it that needed to be subdued. Much of this was because, like my issue with the Megazord, the DX Titanus completely evaded me in its debut. But, worse than that, I also never picked one up subsequently, meaning I never, in my entirety of my Power Rangers fandom, had a Titanus of any kind...

Until today. (Or last week, but semantics)

A disclaimer to begin with, since I haven't owned a Deluxe Titanus, much of the comparisons from my prior reviews will not be able to be repeated here. However, thanks to a good friend and collector of Sentai robos, he was kind enough to let me borrow his OOB Titanus for the figure comparisons.

Anyway, off to the packaging!

OH GOD, THAT UGLY BLUE BANDAI LOGO, NOOOOOOOooooooo....... 

... Anyway...
The packaging is vastly different for any Titanus or King Brachion release in the past, ditching the long rectangular box for a more compact cube. Like the Dragonzord, it uses brandings from both Japanese and Western properties, once again alleviating any need to repackage here in the US. Of course, though, it'll still be a month or so before we get it over here via Bluefin. Mine was, like the Dragonzord, received early via HobbyLink Japan.

The package contents are weirdly different from the other Power Ranger SoCs, however this is far more common in other Chogokin releases, where the main body is in a styrofoam tray, wrapped in a clear plastic to cushion the body, while the head, tail, and accessories are in a plastic blister tray. Both elements have a shaped clear plastic covering lid, though the styrofoam also has a well taped cardboard cover. The pamphlet is sandwiched in between the two, atop the cardboard, and more akin to HG manuals, is a fold-out sheet rather than a saddle-stitched booklet.

Close ups of the two trays, showing their contents.

I believe I can do this review in two parts, with this first part focusing on the main carrier Zord that's included in the box.
So, here we go with...

SOUL OF CHOGOKIN GX-85 TITANUS PART 1:

TITANUS - THE CARRIER ZORD (BEAST MODE)

So, the first thing to note here is that — well, how should I put this? It's heckin' huge.
Yeah, sure, that'll do.
Not only that, but this thing has a lot of great detail, both sculpted in and tampographed, making this highly exquisite as well as vibrant in its colors. It's easily the best Titanus, in many respects.

Its diecast adds a lot of weight to it as well, with gokin on the front and back nails, the ornate gold details of the breast plate, tips of the tail, including the barrels and the white rail runs along them, all 8 wheel rims, and the interior floor within the body's cavity. I couldn't get a 100% consistent read on my scale meant for humans, but it seemed to weigh about 5 lbs.

Some shots of the gorgeous details and paint apps adorning the beast's body.

Again, all of the details on this are wonderfully added, either through solid paint over sculpted details or through the pad applications that are tremendous decal quality. The various hieroglyphics running along the gold banners bring so much character to this beast that this alone makes it a great stand-alone showpiece.

 

The neck contains roughly 90% of this item's poseability, but thankfully struts itself with ball joints at each segment, allowing a good range of motion in every direction.
And yes, these particular examples did make me think of the meme...

All the tires are crisply molded in a surprisingly hard rubber that will hopefully be resistant to the aging problem of dry-rot. They also do well to hold the heavy bot in place.
It's difficult to get in still photos, but the legs attached to the front wheels rotate alternately, akin to the old DX Titanus, but without the motorized gimmick. Not a missed feature, in my opinion, as all it would do is add further weight and cost.

So... Let me go ahead and address the elephant in the room.
If you think this looks suspiciously like 2014's Legacy Titanus, it's because you're essentially right. In fact, they've made no secret that they used the Legacy figure as the base mold for this SoC, going from the first pieces of advertising and reveal articles. However, from looking around other reviews, from what I can tell, the plastics they used differ quite a bit, as well as it consisting of retooled parts to work compatibly with the Megazord and Dragonzord parts it will have to combine with. Many (but not all) of the once-exposed screw holes have had added caps which continue the details once lost on the Legacy iteration. Also, certain paint colors have been changed, with a silver that matches that used on the other SoCs, and the gold on the diecast parts have been made with a mirrored sheen and a more vibrant yellow-gold coating, consistent with the Dragonzord's wings and brestler.
It seems like general consensus is that the Titanus was the strongest of the Legacy dinozords, and overall, it only has a few things that kinda set it apart from "SoC" quality. Some of which I will get into at a later point.
I do not have a Legacy issue to compare with, sadly, but I haven't compared any of the Legacies with the SoCs anyway, so...

Comparisons with the Deluxe Titanus

While the SoC/Legacy is quite large, you can see that the old DX is even larger still! I have so little space to do these comparison shots that it's leaving my photo setup...
That said, it's the same ol' song and dance as the other 'gokins to the 'luxes. details and paint just can't compete. And the sculpting is (literally) decades apart, making a lot of flat, blank surfaces all over the deluxe carrier Zord.

Unlike my prior reviews, since the DX is a borrowed figure, he lacks the more show-accurate reprolabels and added paint of my personal Deluxes, so this is closer to the out-of-box US edition than we've seen prior. The giant "M"s are likely a dead give-away of that, though.

A not-so-well-executed size comparison to the Soul of Chogokin Megazord and Dragonzord. Sadly because of camera position and perspective, the size of the Titanus is a bit exagerated...

So, that is all for this first part, covering the base brachion. Next, we'll explore its "transformation" and combination. It will be the reuniting a god...

Stay tuned.