REVIEW: GUNPHOENIX STRIKER DX

Even with all the incredible die cast figures that came out in 2006, it was the Gunphoenix Striker DX that topped my list of the coolest die cast toys I bought last year. There were a couple of reasons for this, and I have to admit that in part it was the thrill of a random discovery, which is always more exciting than buying something that has been buzzed about on every collector BBS, months before it gets released.

So I came across the Gunphoenix Striker because of another random find. I had bought all the Ultraman Nexus Guys Machine ships in a single purchase on Yahoo Japan because they looked cool and they were really cheap. Originally I didn't even realize that these were Ultraman related toys, but with how cool they looked and how cheap they were, it was an easy buy.
I didn't know anything about Guys machines except what they looked like on Yahoo Japan. Well, it turned out that they were really a fun set of toys with lots of cool variations to make different space ships and tanks, sort of in gattai fashion. These were enough fun that it really got me interested in the other Guys Machines series. So when I came across the Gunphoenix Loader, which looked very cool and cheap once again, I bought it, and to my surprise it was die-cast! All the Nexus ships had been plastic. My Gunloader arrives and it was at least 60% die cast. That was it, now I knew I had to get the Gunwinger. With how well they implemented the combining ability of these two pieces to create the Gunphoenix, it really hit me what a great toy this was, and where both pieces cost around $20 each, it made things that much more enjoyable.



I wasn't aware at this time that a third piece called the Gunbomber was in the works which would complete the Gunphoenix Striker DX spaceship. With the addition of the Gunbomber, the Gunphoenix Striker DX was my choice as the toy of the year for 2006.

Note that the Gunbomber has no die cast. It's still a cool piece and implementation into the Gunphoenix Striker combination is top notch, and very solid, but it would have been awesome if the bomber itself had some diecast weight to it.

Each ship has a nifty gimmick of incorporating a small Gunspeeder vehicle about the size of a Matchbox car, and with wheels no less. The Gunspeeders work as the cockpit for each ship and then eject from the ships as a smaller mobile transport vehicle also. Very cool.

The combination is very solid and could easily be played with by kids. Even though few of us collectors would buy this for our kids to play with, its always nice to have solid construction that will stand up over time.

Price is still currently at about $20-$30 per vehicle, but are getting harder to find. The DX Anniversary set sells for around $150-$200, but Yahoo Japan will be your only chance at this point considering the anniversary set barely made a tick on the radar anywhere in America.

NOTE: The pictures I've featured here are of the vehicles as they were originally sold individually. The paint job has a gloss finish and the Gunspeeder cockpits don't open. The limited anniversay DX combined set features a matte finish paint job with slightly different colors, opening and closing cockpits on the Gunspeeders, and includes six little removable figures. The DX set is fairly rare even in Japan, so if you plan on picking up all of the ships, you might have more luck with the individual vehicles.
I haven't taken any pics of my DX Anniversary set yet, but if anyone is interested I can put some up.