Chogokin

Chogokin (超合金, Chōgōkin^?, Sometimes Chougokin or Cho-gokin) is Japanese for "Super Alloy" and is a fictitious material which first appeared in Go Nagai's Mazinger Z manga and anime. It was later adopted by Popy in 1972 as the name of a new line of die-cast metal robot and character toys sold in Japan. The first of these toys was the "GA-01" Mazinger Z, which, in spite of questionable engineering that led Popy to offer a free replacement campaign, ignited a craze that changed the face of the Japanese toy industry in the 1970s. Bandai, the parent company of Popy, continues the Chogokin line to this day, branded under their own name.

Chogokin toys were generally produced in ST and or DX sizes. ST is short for "standard" and is usually in the range of 5" in height. DX is short for "deluxe" and is usually much larger. In addition to the larger size, the DX versions usually came with more features such as separating parts and more complex weaponry, usually with launching projectiles.

Many of these toys were re-released in the United States. Mattel sold a selection of Chogokin toys under the name Shogun Warriors in the late-1970s. Bandai America sold other Chogokin toys under the Godaikin line in the early-1980s. In the wake of a 1979 rumor of a boy choking to death on a missile fired from a Battlestar Galactica toy manufactured by Mattel, many of the later Shogun Warriors toys were modified to launch "child-safe" projectiles that would not injure children. The Godaikin releases were apparently targeted at an older audience and, as such, were largely identical to the original Japanese releases.

The use of die-cast metal in mass-market robot toys declined greatly after the 1980s, with PVC and ABS plastic becoming the only materials used in most cases. Chogokin toys produced today are usually fairly expensive, high-quality items aimed at collectors.

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Wikipedia