As I've wibbled on about in other reviews, Tomy really went to town with their Ideon figures, producing five that I know of... Compare that to Popy, who generally stuck to two, or in rare cases (such as Tetsujin 28, God Marz or Dairugger XV) three. I guess the difference is that Popy had a number of desirable licences due to their links with Toei and other animation studios, whereas Tomy - like Clover before them with their many versions of Gundam - had to make what they had go a long way. Hence this little chap...

This particular Ideon measures around 4" tall - not a scale Popy or most competitors actually dabbled in themselves, being more likely to delegate such small figures to a budget label like Victoria. While Tomy did have a similar relationship with a company named BEAT, instead this small figure was part of their own Ideon line. From what I can gather it's simply known as Ideon, much like the smaller diecast Clover Gundam is just Gundam. I guess the presence of this Ideon is what allowed Tomy to get away with calling the 6" version the DX...

This fella is little, then. The overall impression is much like that of the collectable Shogun Warriors mini diecasts (some of which were later reissued as Mini Godaikin figures). However, the Ideon is slightly more refined than those, and some genuine effort has gone into making it a decent action figure.

While it's no big shakes compared to more modern stuff of the same size, the toy has very useful articulation - the head, shoulders, elbows, hips and knees all have some movement. The big flat feet do restrict the use of this, though - they really need to be kept flat for the figure to remain standing, meaning there are only a couple of genuine poses available from the legs - one leg forward, one leg back is about the breadth of it. It's a shame, as shaving a few millimetres off the front of the feet would have eliminated this and allowed the figure to stand on its' toes. It's not even like the Ideon had clown feet anyway...

Aesthetically, there's a big surprise, as this actually looks a bit like another Tomy Ideon. Sadly, it's the DX, and so this small version is a gangly, monkey-armed thing with random blue parts as well. At least there are movable elbows to de-emphasise the length of the arms, anyway... That said, there is another head cast - weirdly, probably the most cartoon-accurate one of the range.

The detailing is quite good too, especially for such a small figure - there's a fair stab at all the raised details,which several chrome parts add to the look. The Ideo-Nova's yellow front is a sticker, but actually works quite well. Shame they couldn't chrome the blades on the feet, though, even if it is understandable that they didn't. Plus the torso is still diecast.

For features, there's not a lot beyond the articulation. The toy does have firing fists, but sadly these are badly moulded - not only are they rather oversized compared to the slender robot, but they also have rather big wrists. The overall impression is that the Ideon is wearing a pair of boxing gloves, and it just magnifies the proportional problems of the arms and legs the figure a somewhat comical air.

However, Tomy did include a chromed sword, a scaled down version of the one available with their other Ideon figures. Maybe the Ideon did have a conventional sword in the early design stages. Maybe this was just the closest Tomy could get to the Ideon Swords themselves. Maybe it was the law that any Super Robot figure had to include a relatively huge chromed sword. Who knows?

There is something charming about the small size of the figure, especially if it's lined up on a shelf with the other Tomy Ideons. It looks better from some angles than others, and with use of the arm joints you can draw some attention away from its' dodgy anatomy (I happen to think he looks alright in the last shot, with the sword). With smaller, smoother fists and a lower price tag (this one can still set you back £30-40, and is tricky to find - I guess the small size meant the few that sold were lost easily) it would be easier to recommend, but as it is it should be towards the bottom of your list. There are cheaper ways to get a cute Ideon, after all.