My first figures of 2023 are scheduled to arrive within the next couple of weeks. First up should be the threeZero ROBO-DOU Panzer World Galient, followed by GX-105 Mazinger Z from Bandai's Soul of Chogokin line. I'm pretty excited for both, but mostly for Galient. I was pretty disappointed by threeZero's Dancouga from last year. It has very little die-cast content, so it feels much cheaper than it's $300 plus asking price. It looks good, but I don't care for the attachment point at the ankles (which I was afraid of, even prior to getting it), so I don't mess with it very much at all. In short, I didn't feel like it got me the asking price's worth, which was a first in the ROBO-DOU line. I'm hoping that Galient is sturdier and easier to handle!

I feel like I've been waiting for Galient for forever. It's not a title I was familiar with, so I placed the pre-order solely on how cool it looked, and on how happy I was with my then-recent threeZero purchases. I did manage to watch the 14-episode show during the past year of waiting, and I was really pleasantly surprised with the entire thing, except the ending. It just seemed pretty rushed and unsatisfying as far as conclusions go. But, the ROBO-DOU figure is on its way to me, and I can honestly say I'm super excited!

The Soul of Chogokin GX-105 Mazinger Z is a little bit of a different story. I'm very familiar with the anime, having watched the Impact version several times, along with Infinity. I already have several Z figures, including the Dynamic GX-70. I think I pre-ordered this more out of obligation to the title than because I really love it, and I had some trepidation that it really won't be much different from the GX-70 version. After watching a few reviews over the past couple of weeks, since its release, I've gotten more excited. It looks like all-new tooling, and despite its lack of a plethora of accessories, I think it's going to be a neat addition to the collection. It will be fun to compare to the older version, in any case. So let the waiting continue...