Review – Zoids Goljulas Giga Artstatue
So back in December we looked at the Zoids Shield Liger Artstatue (review here), and at the time I was beating myself up over not buying more of these blind-boxed toys when I was in Hong Kong in 2010. Well, last month in Hong Kong I scored five boxes of these toys cheap and now it’s time that we start looking at my purchases. Unfortunately, I opened the weakest toy in the series first.
Awesome Robot Dinosaur
I have no complaints at all with the Gojulas Giga design. A fantastic robot dinosaur (see the Zoids Wiki), this mechanical monster is one of the more-recognizable Zoids designs out there and, to be fair, this sculpted version of the machine looks great. The photos here should give you a good idea of just how clean the sculpt is; be sure to click on the photo above for a good look at the monster’s head and the one claw that’s ripping wires out of its destroyed opponent.
So What’s Wrong?
If the design looks great then why am I saying this is the worst toy in the series? Because the assembly instructions are vague and, even after puzzling out the proper assembly for the statue’s base, the entire thing does not stand well or hold together well. The photos here show the base mis-assembled, but only because this is the only way that I could get the statue to stand on its own. And the instant I try to move the statue it falls apart into its different pieces, so what we see here is something that looks neat but is not at all as fun as it looks.
Would You Recommend This Toy?
This one? Hell, no. The Gojulas Giga Artstatue is frustrating because the base is poorly designed and the toy just will not hold together. Now it’s possible that the problem is with mine alone — the soft, rubbery plastic means that mine may be warped out of alignment where others will assemble neatly — but based on this one instance of the toy I’m going to say that you should give it a pass. There are a few Zoids Artstatue toys on Amazon*, but if you must own one of these tiny statues I suggest skipping this particular design. It’s just simply not good.
Closing Thoughts
Frustratingly bad, I can say that if this Zoids Gojulas Giga Artstatue had been my first purchase in the series I wouldn’t have bothered with buying more of the toys. Easily the weakest toy in the Zoids Artstatue Volume 3 series, if you’re only experience with the line has been this specific piece then I recommend giving the toys another shot. Especially if you can snag them for $3 or so each; Hong Kong has some truly great deals on toys that I just never see here in the US.
And if you would like to see a version of the Zoids Gojulas Giga that looks like it’s a lot more fun then this one then see this review at CollectionDX. Looks great, and looks like it is way, way more fun than the Gojulas Giga Artstatue.
Philip Reed needs to open another one of the Zoids Artstatue toys right now to remind himself that the line does not suck quite as much as this Gojulas Giga Artstatue makes it seem.