GX 41 & 41S Brave Reideen: Egyptian Star Trek Transforming Mecha

And we're back to the transforming SOCs! As much as I liked the last few that I've reviewed, I'm really excited to be getting back into my comfort zone. Today we have Reideen from the Reideen the Brave cartoon, and it's often credited as being one of the first transforming robots in Japan, also, it's the first super robot to have mystical, rather than scientific, origin. Reideen is the god-like protector of the lost continent of Mu, and is awakened from a long slumber when Earth is threatened by an alien invasion.

Reideen was released in two different sets, the regular release, and then as the 41S DX Fade In release, the biggest difference between the two is that the DX version has a lot more accessories. I got the regular release as one of my first SOCs, and it's always been one of my favorites, I did a review of it back in the days when I just put all of my reviews up on Bottalk and The Comic Forums. I eventually got the DX version after I broke a piece on my standard release Reideen, but never reviewed it. Today I'm going to review both releases, since they're essentially the same.


I'm going to spend an abnormal amount of time talking about the box for the DX version, because it's just stupidly large. It's the largest SOC box I have, at least by the length and width, I have a few that are deeper, but the only one that comes close to the same dimensions is the box for GX-46 Dygenguar & Aubenseiter

Especially when compared to the standard release of the same figure.

One part that I find amusing for some reason, is that they used the exact same trays/packaging for the pieces that are the same between the two releases, so you can just about remove those trays, and put the entire box from the standard release into the DX box.

It's just so absurd.

Okay, onto the actual toys, the two different releases are identical, save one feature, the DX version at left has white painted arms and legs, whereas the standard version features chrome. Personally I like the chrome look better, but the white is more anime accurate.

He's in the ball park of what I always think of as the typical "SOC height" but actually comparing him to a GI Joe makes it seem like he's a bit taller than average.

Included in the box are two faces that you can swap out, one is just a standard closed mouth face, and the other has a hinged mouth that can be open, I personally just use the hinged one, while you can see a seam when it's closed, it's so tiny that it's not really noticeable unless you're within a few inches.

Another one of those items in the category of "I guess it's neat you can switch them, but I won't" is the shin fins. There are the cleaner more naturally curved set.

and an articulated set, so that you can always have his "toes" touching the ground.

Reideen has a number of weapons, most of them are variations/transformations of weapons attached to his forearms. The left arm features the God Gorgon, a bow, there's the smaller folded up version, and then a larger full bow version which actually has functioning hinges.

He comes with a pair of specially designed hands, the left for sighting the bow, and the right for actually holding the arrow, this works surprisingly well, possibly my favorite implementation of a bow and arrow on a toy ever.

There are two different options for arrows, a standard broadhead, and then a more damaging looking arrowhead.

As you can see the second arrow head's tips have all bent. While the shafts of the arrows are metal, the heads are unfortunately made out of a soft, flexible plastic.

On the right arm, we have a kind of shield, called the God Block.

The God Block can have either a short, or long blade inserted into it in order to make the God Breaker sword.

The God Block has wings that deploy out to the sides in order to make it a more effective shield, on the figure this is done by swapping out a different piece.

The God Block wings can also fold out further to create a boomerang, creatively called the God Boomerang, this is yet another piece, although this time the wings do fold out on their own, and it's attached to the wrist via a magnet, so that it can be pulled off and placed in his hand to throw.

The magnet system works pretty well, but all of the other God Block pieces easily fall off the peg that holds them to the wrist band, I don't mind, necessarily, but it seems like it might have been a lot easier to use one wrist band, and have all of the different pieces attach with magnets. It would have saved a lot of swapping, which you need to pop off the fists for.


Reideen has a button on his left ribs, which will activate a spring loaded gimmick in his chest.

The default is to place this red plug in there, which will fire out, although it often gets stuck in the opening since it's a flush fit.

Once you've got the plug out, you can insert a God Missile, which is a bird shaped projectile, this fires much better than the plug, since it's actually designed to be fired.

The last thing you can do with this piece of the torso is insert an alternate chest piece, which simulates the God Voice attack.

Okay, that covers all of the weapons and accessories that come with the standard version, now I'll cover the transformation before I get into the DX additions. I'm actually kind of amazed that Reideen transforms, he doesn't really have a lot of obvious artifacts of an alt mode hanging around, the ones that are there just seem to fit into his theme.

First step is removing a panel from his back.

And placing this awkward back pack into the exposed hole.

I guess that's why there's no hints to his transformation, because they're all hidden on this attachment!

Anyway, the panels to either side of his face slide in to cover his face and expose the eyes of the bird head, covers wrap around from the back to cover the arms, the shoulder pads fold down to meet them, and wings are extended from a surprisingly compact folded up mode.

After that, you just retract the legs a bit, and fold them, and then you've got the God Bird.

I'm really impressed with this mode, it's a really functional design, the claws of the feet are articulated, and you can actually pose it to balance on those feet. I can't help but draw parallels between this and the Enterprise from Star Trek, I'm sure it's just because the elevated rockets resemble the engines on Star Trek, but I see this and can't help but think "if Captain Kirk piloted a mecha, this is what it would like" and it just makes me love it all the more.

Another nice touch is that the stand can accommodate Reideen in other robot or bird mode.

And this is where I broke part of my original Reideen, the bird is attached to the stand by a bracket, and I placed him in this mode after handling it a few times, and then left it on my shelf for a week before I went back to it. By which point I'd forgotten how it fit on, and I broke a peg off of the bird backpack trying to get it off. So, if you have this guy, just remember to pull down from the back, and then slide it forward. It'll make sense if you ever handle it.

Now, what's an SOC without an absurdly tiny related vehicle? Still a pretty cool toy, but not an SOC! Here we have the Brugar ship, which is about half the size of a hotwheel.

The red parts that extend out to the side can fold down, I'm not sure if this is supposed to be to grab something or what.

It also comes with an even tinier spit fighter that can be docked on the top front of the Brugar.

Just about all of the pieces can be stored on the stand, but there's always a few little pieces that don't have a home. In either mode, the cap that's placed on the back when the pack isnt attached is left out, unless you leave out the pack. In robot mode, there's no place to store the bits that hold the bird mode, and in bird mode, the God Voice attachment won't fit into it's assigned slot, because the stand gets in the way.

Overall, I really love this toy, and I'd recommend it.

Now, onto what's included in the DX Fade In set. (FYI, Fade In was the catchphrase for when Akira Hibiki would activate and enter REideen.)

Since it's currently in God Bird Mode, I'll cover the additions for that mode first.

There's a new head for the God Bird included, slightly larger and cleaner, just be careful when you pop off the original head, those antlers are sharp, and actually drew some blood from my thumb.

This one's really strange, you can also remove the bird head, and replace it with a blade, it kind of looks like the blade from a kunai knife. This is apparently part of the God Cutter attack, where the head detaches and batters enemies.

For the robot mode, there's an upgraded God Gorgon, where the arms of the bow are replaced by blades, which is now known as the Gorgon Sword.

The God Boomerang also gets an upgrade with some rockets, this version attaches to the same magnetic bracelet as the first boomerang, although now the wings are fixed, and the blade is part of the boomerang, not an attachment.

The God Block gets updated with a larger surfboard shaped shield, which is now attached to the bracelet more solidly, and also allows it to be used as a saw by spinning.

The last Right arm upgrade is probably my favorite, called the Energy Cutter, it's supposed to simulate an electric charge of the God Breaker, but it's just another blade that can be inserted, and it looks great.

There's also an additional mini vehicle, a motorcycle that Akira drives, called the Sparker.

It comes with an even tinier Akira figure to drive it.

And can only maintain an upright position via a black plate with a groove to insert the wheels in.

Tiny!

So, by this point, if you're not familiar with the set, you're probably wondering why the DX box is so much bigger, and here it is.

It comes with a friggin mountain!

This is the mountain where Reideen rests between fights, and planetary threats. It opens with a clever gear system, where pulling on the front of the base causes the sides to slide out. Within is revealed a gold statue version of Reideen.The mountain's pretty cool, the feel of it really reminds of the old He-Man Castle Grayskull.

As you can see the statue is just about the same size as Reideen, and oddly it actually uses the same thrusters/feet as the regular figure, although that's about it for parity between the two.

The statue has a draw bridge door in the pelvis.

Which the Sparker can fit inside.

And thus is the "Fade In" Simulated

Now, of all these new accessories, the only one that has anywhere to be stored is the Sparker, the stand of which fits perfectly into a depression in the larger Reideen stand.

The rest of the parts just have to sit on the shelf or go back in the box, I can't help but think that there should be some way to store all of those extra bits in, I dunno, the giant friggin mountain!

So, overall a big thumbs up for the figure, if you only get one of the two figures, I'd say make your decision based on the arm details of the main figure, if you like the chrome better, stick with that, if you prefer the anime accurate white, the choice is clear. Even now, I believe the two sets are available for about the same cost, the difference being the higher shipping cost on the DX set, because of the absurd box size.