Toy Review: ArtStorm Pose Plus (Pose+) Metal P-03 Goshogun

Easily the best Goshogun collectible of all time but definitely not perfect.

Producer: ArtStorm (designed by Awaken Studio)

Price: Approx. $330 USD

Release Date: Feb. 2020

Item Height: 10.5″

Item Weight: N/A

Batteries: 3x LR276 cell batteries (sold seperately.)

WHERE TO BUY: AmiAmi

ArtStorm and design team Awaken Studio have really made the mecha collecting world take notice with their amazing blend of impressive engineering, quality materials, and straight-from-your-television aesthetics with their Pose Plus (Pose+) Metal line. In their third release they tackle Goshogun (Macron 1) and really do it justice in giving use what I feel is the best collectible for this mecha we will ever see. Check out the video, written thoughts here, and gallery below for my impressions and let me know what you think of this one in the comments.

Presentation: The box is a strong cardboard with awesome, retro styled art throughout. Inside, Goshogun is shown with the Tri-3 components surrounding him all securely packed into their styrofoam shell. Like Baxinger it also has the retro-styled graphic sheet on top of the figure. The accessories are also packed well inside of their own compartments within the styrofoam.

Build: Pose+ Goshogun is a diecast piece featuring the material on both the inner frame as well as parts of the outer aesthetic “shell”. Strong-but-smooth ratcheting joints as well as well-tuned friction ones make the play/pose process with this piece a dream. However my copy did come with paint flaws throughout which was pretty disheartening.

(Note: I bought this secondhand from a seller who stated that it was new extra he’d purchased and untouched so I cannot 100% verify that this is how it came from the factory. I’ve spoken to other collectors who own it and they have verified not having the same issues with the paint so regardless of how this occurred it doesn’t seem to be the norm. I’ve read reports however of other issues like cracks in the plastic near joint areas which are even more so alarming.)

Accessories: Here’s a list of the accessories taken from the product listing;

-Go Flasher
-Go Saber
-Go Stick
-Space Bazooka
-Each type of hand part (open hand, Pointing hand, gripping hand, holding hand x2 types)

The accessories are pretty standard a GoShogun product mirroring what came with homages back to the CMS release towards a decade ago and it makes sense because they’re all exactly what’s been utilized in the show. Everything is well made and well painted, however with the Go Stick I needed to heat the staff area up to pull it apart for switching between long and short handles. the light up feature on the backpack for the Go-Flasher is an excellent idea but unfortunately the light travels so shortly through the clear flasher pieces that you can hardly see the effect from the front of the figure. Visually it would have hardly made a difference if they effect weren’t included at all.

Articulation: The articulation on Pose+ Goshogun us absolutely fantastic and I’d even argue that he’s fair more articulated than even necessary. the wide ranges of motion and perfectly-done ratchet joints make this one that you want to continue to play with and pose even though it’ a big, heavy, higher-end figure!

Overall Score: 7.5/10 – This is easily and obviously not only the best Goshogun toy of all time but honestly the best we’ll probably ever see making it what I’d call the absolute definitive collectible for this mecha. However for everything that it does well in terms of build and engineering, the paint on mine coming with defects as well as reading stories from others regarding a variety of quality issues including cracks in the plastic it seems that the actual condition yours arrives in is a toss up. This isn’t good articularly being one of the first figures under this brand. However if you get one in absolutely pristine condition then prepare to be amazed. That’s not to say that you won’t be impressed ven with issues but given the price of the product and the standards set by ArtStorm in general you should expect much different than what customers have been given in this regard.