Newbie chogokin collector here...just started yesterday, in fact.
When I was a kid in the 70's and early 80's, there was a cartoon show on in the US called Force Five, which was five different giant robot shows, edited and redubbed in English. They were Grandizer (Grendizer), Gaiking, Space-keteers, Danguard Ace, and the Starvengers, (which had a robot with three pilots, and the robot could transform into three different versions). Each individual series was on one day of the week--my favorite, Grandizer, was on Thursdays. I still remember the actor who portrayed the pilot shouting his name ("Orion Queeeeeesssst!") in order to change into his pilot uniform, and then shouting the names of Grandizer's weapons as he fired them ("Screw-crusher punch!" "Space thunder!") I loved that show, along with another anime show on at that time, Star-Blazers. One Christmas my mother got me a couple of those 5" diecast Shogun Warriors robots they were selling in the five and dime stores and I was just in love: even though I had previously been collecting Mego superheroes, these Shogun warriors were cooler because they were made of metal and their fists actually fired!
I've been nostalgic about those robots ever since, even though I don't watch anime (my interest began and ended with Force Five and Star Blazers; modern anime stuff is just bewildering to me) and I never bought any other robot toys afterwards (you couldn't really find them outside of specialty stores, and then I became a teenager and video games was where my pocket money went.) Anyway, while looking around on ebay yesterday I came across a Grendizer figure and that made me do a little research into the modern robot toys. (Also, part of my interest stems from the fact that Hot Toys cost $200 a pop and all they do is sit on my shelf looking unassailably perfect. But where's the fun? The robots were fun. The Hot Toys are just...there, and it's hard to stay excited for them.) I guess there are two main robot lines that collectors have decided are the best: the Soul of Chogokin and the the Super Robot Chogokin lines. Although lots of the robots in these lines look really goofy and silly to me (for instance: why do some robots seem to wear capes? Why are they painted with so many colors that they look like a box of skittles?), yesterday I jumped in nevertheless and ordered three of the coolest Super Robot Chogokin figures: Grendizer (still awesome after all these years), Raideen (I always loved the robot's sphinx-like design) and Mazinkaiser (a version of Mazinger I guess? All I know is he looks really cool. And the one I got doesn't have a cape. Because giant robots shouldn't wear capes.) I chose the Super Robot Chogokin instead of the Soul of Chogokin versions because they're in the small scale I remember from when I was a kid, and also because they seem more like toys than the "Soul" versions; Grendizer has rocket trails you can attach to his arms to fire his screw-crusher punch fists, and he has a great-looking bolt of space thunder that can be attached to his head too.
I'm a bit worried though that when I receive these I'll be wishing I had ordered the Soul versions instead, since those are the "deluxe" versions, and the Soul of Chogokin Grendizer is pretty tempting. Also it seems the Soul line has some robots that the Super Robot line doesn't--such as Dragon (Dragun?), the main robot from Starvengers, who I really want. But I really don't want to collect another toy line that just sits on my shelf looking pretty like the Hot Toys do. Anyone have any advice about these two lines? And is it possible to own both the Super Robot and Soul of Chogokin versions of certain robots without feeling like you're double-dipping?
