Review: AlphaMax D.H. Gokin Kotetsu Jeeg

This Jeeg really hits the mark aesthetically but falls pretty far short in terms of quality

Producer: AlphaMax (Dimension Hobby)

Price: Approx. $300 USD

Release Date: Jan. 2020

Item Height: 10.75″

Item Weight: N/A

Batteries: N/A

WHERE TO BUY: HLJ

So I’m a bit of an “odd” Super Robot collector particularly when it comes to Go Nagai originals in that I don’t really like the older designs. I started being a fan and collecting around 2013 and not having grown up with series like Mazinger and Getter Robot I don’t have the attachment to them that someone who did may. The first collectible homages that were appealing to me aesthetically with the Taku Sato designed EX Gokin versions from Fewture Models. These pretty much came my standard for stylization and when it came to another Nagai series Jeeg, I really had no interest in a single figure I’d seen until this one from AlphaMax’s D.H. Gokin toyline was unveiled years back. This homage to the 2007 Kotetsushin (Steel) Jeeg really gave the mecha that aesthetic bump that I needed with the size, build, and style to fit in with my Fewture Models EX Gokin collection. Overall it’s an absolutely beautiful piece marred with some pretty crucial quality issues. Thanks for checking out this article and gallery and afterwards please leave your comments below and let me know what you think.

Presentation: The box on this is really cool. There’s actually an outer cardboard box with a carrying handle and really nice artwork and graphics. Inside the product and its accessories are in plastic clamshells and covered by a cardboard sleeve with cutouts showing the pieces akin to older Popy/Godaiken packaging. It’s beautiful and very well done. This is the kind of packaging that honestly gets you extremely excited to open it.

Build: The DH Gokin Jeeg lives up to the “Gokin” moniker and has diecast throughout both the joints and pieces of the outer body however it’s not a heavy figure by any means despite its large size. The paint job on it is gorgeous and the detailing is great but I believe a better finish could have been applied to it to avoid chipping.

The joint system is neat in that it pays a very clear homage to Jeeg in having diecast balls that make up the shoulder, elbows, hips, knees, and ankles that are able to be disconnected from the main body. The head and neck are also able to be disconnected from the body via magnet. It’s an extremely well done system setup.

This piece does have a switch-activated LED in the main body that also activated LEDs on the figures eyes when the head is connected.

With that all being stated mine came with the following quality issues on the body out of the box:

– Significant chipping on the back plate that covers the battery area.
– Non-working electronics in the body (had to disassemble and change out the LED and wires myself.)
– stressing on the knuckle of one of the fingers.

Accessories: I haven’t found an official accessories listing but here is my own;

– 1x clasped hands
– 2x Mach Drill
– 2x Jeeg cannon
– Flight pack
– Display Base

The accessories on paper are awesome and plentiful giving the product a very big time feel. They’re large, beautifully painted, and even have electronic LEDs and moving parts. The included adapters also let you really have a solid variety of looks and setups from the series. Unfortunately on both the Jeeg Cannons and Mach Drills I had quality issues. One of the buttons on the Mac Drills was broken internally upon receipt and one of the Jeeg Cannons had split down the middle for whatever reason affecting the electronic functions.

Articulation: The D.H. Gokin Jeeg has a good amount of articulation points and a lot of range in the limbs in particular. However its more lanky aesthetic with a shorter torso and longer-than-normal limbs makes it hard to get into some key poses in.

Overall Score: 5.5/10 – I have to give credit to AlphaMax/Dimension Hobby for tightening their bootstraps and taking on such an ambitious project. It’s absolutely refreshing to see a company offer a product that can be considered definitive in terms of the figure and accessories without the need for additional purchases; particularly when it comes to diecast figures with features like electronics. However, the quality on this piece leaves quite a bit to be desired to the point where I almost wish so much wasn’t included to give better room for focus on the quality of at least the figure itself. I have spoken with the company who’ve stated that they are preparing replacement pieces for me and I will gladly change my score given that said pieces fix these issues but until then I can only judge based on the experience I’ve had with this.