Soul of Chogokin

Soul of Chogokin (????, Ch?g?kin Damashii) or “Soul of Super-alloy”,

The Soul of Chogokin Line, or also known as “SOC”, began in 1997. The name Soul of Chogokin means “Soul of Super Alloy”, and is known for it’s relatively high content of die-cast metal. The line almost exclusively focuses on robots taken from various 1970’s/1980’s Anime TV programs. Bandai has also expanded the line to include other mecha from the ’70’s such as Super Sentai and Tokusatsu.

Reports have the Soul of Chogokin series starting as the Hi-Complete Model line was being phased out. The last figure in the line was meant to be Mazinger Z, but Bandai decided to turn that prototype into the first Soul of Chogokin robot. It was a smart decision. The Soul of Chogokin series debuted in 1997 and was an instant success. Later Bandai chose to refine models and resculpt special renditions, resulting in R or Renewal SOC versions.

Soul of Chogokin robots take the joint systems to an entirely new level. Previous diecast Chogokin toys of the 1970’s primairly used rotating arms and legs and that was it. So with the new Soul of the SOC toys came multiple axis of movement. Most all toys in the line feature heads, legs, wrists, arms, knees, and interchangeable hands.

Soul of Chogokin

Accessories

Some accessories, die-cast weapon or special items…

Black version, recolors and renewal versions

Bandai released lots of variants of the original releases. Most are just repaints, while some of them have a totally different sculpt or add more features to the original SoC.

Limited items

Even though they were never too difficult to find, the following versions were never released in shops. Most of them required the use of coupons found in manga/magazines/CDs. Some were released in fairs/exhibitions.

Special items

The following special items were released in predetermined limited numbers. They have all reached incredibly high prices in secondary market.