What is Chogokin?

Chogokin - Sometimes Chougokin or Cho-gokin - (超合金) is Japanese for "super Alloy" and is a fictitious material which first appeared in Go Nagai's Mazinger Z comic. It was later adopted by the Popy Toy company in 1972 as the name of a new line of die-cast metal robot and character toys sold in Japan. The very first of these toys was the "GA-01" Mazinger Z, which in spite of questionable engineering that led Popy to offer a free replacement campaign, ignited a craze that changed the face of the Japanese toy industry in the 1970s. Bandai - the parent company of Popy Toy - continues the Chogokin line to this day, branded under their own name.

Vintage Chogokin

Chogokin toys were generally produced in ST and or DX sizes. ST often identified with standard and usually in the range of 5" tall. The DX versions were deluxe and usually much larger. In addition to the larger size, the DX versions usually came with more features such as separating parts and more complex weaponry, usually with launching projectiles.

Many of these toys were re-released in the United States. Mattel sold a selection of Chogokin toys under the name Shogun Warriors. Bandai America sold others under the name Godaikin. In the wake of a 1979 rumor of a boy choking to death on a missile fired from a Battlestar Galactica toy manufactured by Mattel, many of the later Shogun Warrior toys were modifed to launch "child-safe" projectiles that would not injure children. The Godaikin releases were apparently targeted at an older audience and as such were largely identical to the Japanese versions of the toys.

Modern Chogokin

The use of diecast in mass-market robot-toys declined greatly after the 1980s, PVC and ABS plastic becoming the only materials used in most cases. Chogokin toys produced today are usually fairly expensive, high-quality items aimed at collectors.

Bandai's Soul of Chogokin line is probably the most famous example of this trend, featuring updated versions of many toys first made by Popy in the 70s and 80s. The first SOC released was an updated Mazinger Z, and many other classic designs followed. The line is still going and has been recently expanded to include more modern robots, some of which did not have a pre-existing chogokin toy. It is also a way to create new, more easily available mecha toys for older shows such as Dancouga- Super Beast Machine God and the Leopaldon from Spider-Man.

Debuting in 2000, the Souchaku Henshin series (also known as Armor Trans) is another contemporary Bandai line under the Chogokin banner. These action figures are made to a 5-inch scale, and feature tokusatsu characters from Kamen Rider, Metal Heroes, and GARO. Souchaku Henshin figures feature multiple points of articulation, removable armor, and contain die-cast parts. Much like Soul of Chogokin, Souchaku Henshin features both recent characters as well as updates to classic ones.

As of 2008, Bandai are releasing a new line of Souchaku Henshin Series called the "SH Figuarts" (Figure + Arts). The first releases are from the characters of Kamen Rider The Next.

Pseudo-gokins

Due to success and notoriety in the toy collecting hobby, the term "chogokin" has become somewhat of a generic descriptor for Japanese toys similar in style or construction to true Chogokins. Other companies have also used the "-gokin" suffix, such as Takatoku's Z-Gokin or Max Factory's Max Gokin line.