Getter Poseidon is one of three Getter Robo mecha. But he's the only one I like.

Getter Poseidon was introduced in 1975 in the sequel anime Getter Robo G, replacing the unpopular Getter-3 from the original. Getter-3's toy had sold badly, so the 'underwater' mecha was radically redesigned to be closer in size to the other members of the team, and have the option of a more conventional robot layout. Popy issued the action figure, which was also issued in America by Mattel as part of Shogun Warriors (named simply as 'Poseidon'). Around this time the anime was also exported to America, where it was dubbed and renamed Starvengers (the same dub was issued in the UK on VHS as Formators during the 1980s robot boom).

Since then, the Getter Robo mythos has been revisited in Japan numerous times, with follow-up TV series, OVAs and manga stories. It wasn't much of a surprise when the trio from Getter Robo G were selected for the Soul of Chogokin series in 2003. Getter Poseidon (GX-20) is actually made so he can split and combine with various parts of Getter Dragon (GX-18) and Getter Liger (GX-19) to form various super robots from the anime. However, I'm not mad on either of their standard robot modes, and only a massive pricing crash or a lottery win is likely to see me buying them...

The Getter Poseidon figure is actually a little larger than I expected, around the same size as Tetsujin 28. Not sure where I got the impression he was smaller from, but there we go. He's heavier than I expected too - even for a Soul of Chogokin figure, there is a Hell of a lot of metal on Getter Poseidon - the legs feel solid, for a start. It's easier to list the non-metal parts, which are the arms, the head, the Cyclone 'collar', the internal connectors and the (removable) launchers. That's a lot of metal...

The design is great too. It's not quite as cute as the original with its' round chest and thin limbs, but it's still rather darling all the same. Plus look at those colours - yellow, blue and red, all rounded edges. Great stuff, a real slice of uncomplicated design. At the same time the stocky shape does give an impression of power, and he's got a giant pair of rockets strapped to his back. Which is fabulous, obviously.

Getter Poseidon's combining facilities to cause a problem, sadly. While the head and lower legs snap on very well, the waist connection isn't the most secure - especially as it doubles as a joint to allow Poseidon to lean forward, and as mentioned the top half of the body is very heavy. Sometimes this is enough for the top half of the figure to just topple off.

This aside, Poseidon has respectable articulation. The hips are a bit restrictive and the flat feet (which do, however, pivot at the ankles) take a bit of getting used to, but the waist, neck and arms all have decent range. It's not the most dynamic figure of the series by a long haul, and you have to be careful to keep the thing's balance and stop it from just splitting at the waist, but it's still possible to get a few decent poses from the toy. The figure comes with a pair of open hands, and a pair of clenched fists.

Aside from the combining feature (which I can't really showcase because of the aforementioned lack of Getter Dragon/Liger), there are only a handful of features for Getter Poseidon. One is the Getter Cyclone attack - the yellow lifejacket like section of the chest hinges back to reveal a chromed collar which can spin satisfyingly via the complex process of flicking it with an extended finger. It's a nice bit of attention to detail, even if it's not going to keep you amused for hours on end.

The Strong Missile Launchers might, though. It's a novelty within the line to actually get some spring-loaded weaponry. It's nowhere near as potent as the vintage Popy stuff, but still good fun. Bandai don't include any spares, though - it's as if they trust collectors not to fire them under desks. The launchers themselves can completely detach if needs be too.

The other feature is what could be generously termed as a transformation. I guess this is for when Poseidon has to operate on land. On the original the legs flipped down to become caterpillar tracks, but I guess that wasn't possible for this one. So instead the lower legs pop off, and a pair of 'folded legs' with working rubber treads clip on. This looks a bit weird, truth be told, and I'm actually glad they cheated for the legs - it'd be a shame if the look of the robot mode was sacrificed for such a strange configuration.

The set also includes a little model of a submarine... I'm not familiar with the anime, but I guess the pilot used this to dock with the robot. The colour scheme and (non-working) launchers are nice design continuity. It looks a lot like Thunderbird 4 on steroids. The sub's not a great little thing, but it does no harm.

Poseidon also comes with a pair of stands - however, these a pretty blunt reminder that we've only got a third of a figure. The three Getter Robo G stands interconnect, which means they look rubbish by themselves. It doesn't even have anywhere to store the treads, which is annoying, while the thing's covered with posts and holes for parts that aren't with this figure. There's also a little stand for the sub, though again this is designed to interlock with those for the other two vehicles, and looks incomplete by itself.

Poseidon is a worthy update, capturing the essence of the original but adding some real substance and a few extra features too. Like Tetsujin 28, it's not the most exhaustive of figures, and serves more as an excellent version of Getter Poseidon than an excellent Soul of Chogokin. To be fair, the limitations are in the original design rather than the Bandai design team. That said, a fair chunk of Poseidon's features don't come across without owning Dragon and Liger as well, which hurts his entertainment value.

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