Mattel Gaiking

 
Mattel Gaiking Figure Front
Gaiking was released by Mattel in 1978 along with Godzilla - he's prominently featured on the cover of the Mattel Catalog for that year which I find interesting - that he's there and not the more recognizable Godzilla. He is one of the cooler Shoguns in my opinion, with the dragon face on his chest. Rockets shot from the eyes of his chest while a shooting right fist from a bendable elbow joint rounded out the arsenal. As noted earlier, Gaiking gains the initial release Mazinga rockets with triangular vanes. Later versions appear to come with the standard clip-vane rockets. Both boxed versions have a white rocket with red vane pictured on the box. This variation is also sometimes found possibly on Canadian issued jumbos, or at least that seems to be a common factor (click here for a comparison). To date I've only seen box variations with an updated printers code so there may be an earlier version of the box - It's unclear what was changed between the first and updated box versions.This is one of the hardest figures to find in the Shogun Warriors Two-in-One, but is fairly common as a second release Jumbo Machinder.

Mattel Gaiking Box Front

Mattel Gaiking Box Contents

Mattel Gaiking Box Printers Code

Mattel Gaiking Box Side

Mattel Gaiking Box Detail

Mattel Gaiking Box Detail with White Rockets

Mattel Gaiking Figure Front

Mattel Gaiking Figure Back

Mattel Gaiking Figure Side

Mattel Gaiking Figure Side with Elbow Bent

Mattel Gaiking Figure Head Detail

Mattel Gaiking Figure Chest Detail

Mattel Gaiking Figure Missile Banks

Mattel Gaiking Figure Back Detail

Mattel Gaiking Figure Firing Fist

Mattel Gaiking Figure Missile Details

Mattel Gaiking Figure Wheel Details


The Japanese Popy version of this figure does a few additional things worth noting - first the arms and head can be removed with giant horns replacing the arms. The whole jumbo then resembles the face of the Daiku Maryu dragon spacer! The U5 version of Gaiking also has these feature. Here are some comparison shots of the Popy Gaiking next to the Mattel version.

Figure Comparison: Popy on left, Mattel on right

Mattel Gaiking Figure Back

Popy Gaiking Figure Back Detail
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1 comment:

NYG47 said...

anyone know what the blue paint color is on gaiking's head?