MegahouseMadö King Granzört: Super Granzort Variable Action Hi-Spec Figure, Multicolor

I had been watching this figure for a LONG time and from a cost standpoint it’s about as premium of a figure as I’ve ever purchased. I bought the figure from a site other than Amazon, not because I was trying to get the lowest price, but because Amazon third party sellers aren’t always the best at keeping the boxes in pristine condition and the retailer I bought from was. Pretty much the day after I bought it, the price on Amazon started dropping and dropping and dropping until it hit about $250. The price of the figure has since jumped back up but there may be sellers willing to sell for quite a bit less. Currently, the figure is over $438 on Amazon but I can find them other places for less.The first thing I noticed on picking up Madou King Granzort was how light the figure is. Besides the tiny pins and screws the figure is entirely plastic which, from my experience, is pretty unique for such a high-end figure and not in a good way. Although Amazon doesn’t list the materials, the website I ordered from just says plastic, so I shouldn’t have been surprised although I’d hoped maybe the information was wrong given the price. At the very least, it would have been nice if Megahouse had added some metal to the calves and feet to lower the center of gravity. Luckily, Granzort has some really big feet so he stands easily.Madou King Granzort has a very busy, clunky design. There are fins and wings and curves all over the place. From an aesthetic standpoint I prefer a clean, simple figure like the recently released Getter 1 from 5Pro Studios. This is purely about taste and other people may love the complicated design of King Granzort. The 5Pro figure uses die-cast and hybrid carbon and when I hold it in my hands I get where the cost of the figure comes from. I paid a little over $300 for Getter 1 and I feel like I got my money’s worth. Bandai’s Soul of Chogokin line uses die-cast and plastic but the plastic feels very high quality. I don’t get the same feeling from King Granzort. It doesn’t feel like cheap plastic, but it doesn’t feel like the highest quality.Where King Granzort shines is in all the engineering. There is so much going on that you’ll be continually exploring and finding new details. I have no idea how many points of articulation there are, but this is the only robot I own that is under 18 inches and has fully articulated hands. With two joints per finger and three in each thumb that’s 14 joints in each hand even without counting the wrists. The joints aren’t as smooth as I’d like for a figure like this, probably because it’s built from middle of the road plastic.If this figure were a mixture of plastic and die-cast it would probably be in my top 5 but if I held this figure without knowing the price, I’d guess it were in the $120 range or less. The packing it comes in is amazing and makes it feel like you’re getting something super high end, but the figure is much less impressive up close. The colors don’t pop like they do on my Soul of Chogokin figures (which generally run more in the $120 to $140 range) and it feels flimsy. I paid around $400 for mine but unless you’re a rabid Japanese robot fan with a lot of disposable income I just don’t think it’s worth it and it sure as hell isn’t worth $500+.