Soul of Chogokin GX-113 Gundam Tryon 3
Considering Gundam Build Fighters Try isn't to most popular season of its subline, it's very easy to argue that Tryon 3 is the most popular aspect of that season... except maybe Fumina. Anyway, the Mobile Suits of GBFT were very Super Robot in performance and combat, but Tryon 3 took that to the next step by also referencing them with its aesthetics. Tryon 3 was also easily recognizable as being based off the ZZ Gundam, while most other Gunpla had more original designs which was a common complaint among fans at the time. But despite its popularity, it has only had ever gotten that original kit and a few hard-to-get color and plastic variants, so to have its second iteration be the full-on high-end Super Robot treatment is a welcome surprise.
The Good: While I've heard a ton of good things about the line, this is my first foray into SoC. As the name suggests, there are a lot of metal parts throughout, primarily in the legs but quite a bit is used to reinforce joints. As such, it is very heavy and very solid. It also has a good range of posability, though gentle pressure should be applied when moving the tougher metal joints.
As with the original, Tryon 3 is capable of splitting into Riku Tryon, Sora Tryon, and Umi Tryon. They all carry over the posability they grant to Tryon 3, with Riku Tryon having decently posable legs in addition. The transformation is also very fun, with no parts forming like with the original. Riku Tryon's head is on a dual armature that swings over the chest, Umi Tryon's head fits snugly into the chest cavity, and Sora Tryon's legs completely invert on a set of sliding rails to become the standard Gundam legs. It's all very impressive, and not at all complicated, which speaks wonders to its engineering. It even has added places to store the Sora head and Umi tail which become its sword, and the wings which are usually discarded.
I'll also say, when combined, it feels like the size they portray it as in the show, closer to 1/100 scale than 1/144. Despite a lot of HG kits declaring they're 1/144 scale, that doesn't always match up in practice, with kits like those from Wing or units like Mobile Doll Sarah or May being bigger than they should be, or in this case HG Tryon 3 feeling small, though its size did sometimes feel like it was on a slider.
Apart from a bevy of alternate hands, Tryon 3 does comes with a number of bonus parts, most of which are beam effects. It comes with an enlarged head crest to wield for its iconic Boomerang Stagger, beam effects for both its Hyper Beam Sabers and an over-foot-long one for Hyper Minovsky Chohoken, and propulsion effects with stand capability for Armed Booster. It also comes with a set of two parts so you can depict it pulling Chohoken from the Liger's mouth, with the beam piece alone doubling as a Choho Pressure effect piece.
The included stand is also nice. While it doesn't have undercarriage storage, like with a lot of The Gattai toys, it does try to remain very pristine in appearance. You can separate it into three parts to display the three individual units separately, remove the name plate, and all the armatures you can attach hook onto the existing Riku and Umi plugs, or a cleverly hidden hole in the center of the stand.
The Bad: There's some general tightness and fragility to worry about, though it points out most instances in the instructions. The sword is also quite heavy to the point that it recommends you use one of the armatures to prop it up, though you have to do so with the unreliable clamp arms. I do wish there was some way to plug the stand into the sword if they knew this was going to be a thing. The first time I attached the V-Fin I was worried something was going to snap, though nothing thankfully did.
The biggest issue I had was the hands. They're slightly rubberized, and very tight, so they took quite a bit of force to put on the wrists for the first time. I ended up taking the arms off by the elbow to get the leverage I needed to put them on. They get slightly easier the more you do it, but they always require a bit more force than I'd like.
Look, this is a very high-end, high-spec piece. While I have heard of a few fumbles in SoC's past, this seems like a release where they did their homework. It probably helps that it's not trying to do anything too crazy, apart from the leg inversion? Treat it like what it's worth and you will see no trouble; time, patience, and a gentle hand.
Overall, it's great, but expensive. You're definitely getting your money's worth, but the question is if you want to spend that money in the first place. But now I'm kinda sad that this is a solo piece; unlike a lot of Super Robots, Tryon 3 is standalone and doesn't have combo buddies. Except... SD Tryon 3 does have Luna Tryon.
