Now, time to discuss the Gogos!
Series 1 of the Gogos was pretty basic and had no title until its rereleased and altered foreign export called it "Urban Toys". A few characters had rare "Wanted" and "Most Wanted" variants that had more complex and usually drastically different paint jobs. These were mutually exclusive classes of rarity; there weren't any characters with both "Wanted" and "Most Wanted" variants, and the minority of Series 1 characters had these rarer variants. There are 80 Series 1 characters, with the Wanted/Most Wanted variants bringing the total of character designs to collect up to 100.
These Series 1 Gogos demonstrate all of the colors the series was cast in. I'm showing the backs of Gogos to demonstrate the colors with no distractions. The color names are my own.
This makes it look like a more vibrant series than it feels in practice; the muted colors make the series amassed feel less bright, especially if they're mixed together with the other colors on display. All of the "Wanted" Gogos were cast in one of these base colors; there were no casting colors exclusive to the Wanted Gogos.
The whole color set of twenty was broken into four small fixed palettes of five colors each, with each Gogo being assigned to one of those smaller palettes to determine which five colors they appeared in. As such, each Series 1 Gogo demonstrates one of four color sets in the whole series. The color variant pools are not more individualized to suit each character more specifically. I don't have all five variants of any one Gogo in these Series 1 palettes, but every Gogo sculpt in these following photos of the color groups appeared in all five colors in the photo. The Series 1 palettes were
- A "warm" palette with red, orange, egg yellow, lemon yellow, and violet:
- A "cool" palette with royal blue, azure, lime, green, and purple:
- A "dull" palette with ochre yellow, olive, brown, grey, and black:
- And a "dainty" palette with white, lilac, sky blue, pastel green, and magenta.
Not all of the Wanted variants for the Gogos were base-cast in a color from their original Gogo's casting palette, but most of them were.
Series 1 is almost divided into linear stretches of these four palettes, though there are a handful of outliers scattered around the series. With exceptions, most of the first quarter of the series is the "warm" palette, the second chunk has most of the "cool" palette, most of the third quarter of the series is the "dull" palette, and the final stretch has most of the Gogos in the "dainty" palette.
The magenta and violet shades are very similar, but distinct, and assigned to two different palettes. Same goes for the azure and sky blue, and the egg yellow and ochre yellow shades. The darker yellow from the warm palette and the dark yellow from the dull palette are nearly identical to the naked eye, but the two are clearly different plastic shades under blacklight.
I discovered that the white versions of any Series 1 Gogo in the "dainty" palette tended to look really strong, especially against black paint jobs for a chic doodle monochrome vibe.
My first three Gogos ever were this trio--lemon yellow Sato, brown Atori (replaced with a nicer copy from the new batch), and lilac Kokubu.
After a few rounds of collecting, I purchased a complete set of Series 1, one copy each, which happened to include several color variants I deemed essential. Some of these are naturally duplicate colors with Gogos I got before. Here's my pull order:
Here they are in official order. You can see how the four color palettes were loosely distributed in linear quadrants here.
And with some swapping in of variants from previous acquisitions.
I wasn't fully fully set to close my collection of Series 1. I found one more set of mixed-series Gogos with color variants I still wanted, and then wrapped Series 1.
I'll be reviewing in official series order. Under the character names and photos in italics are the official descriptions, which are brief. Series 1's are sourced from external trading cards. I'm not sure if that's where the other series' character descriptions also come from. Since I don't have every variant of every Gogo, I'll be photographing every variant I have for each Gogo, which is sometimes just the one. Knowing the palettes the characters used helps give a better picture of what the rest of the variants for the Gogos looked like even though I can't show them all. Since there's no point in reviewing the gold-series recolors separately, those will also be thrown in with their origin Gogos, but they are to the side in the pictures to show they were not released in Series 1.
I don't believe every Gogo's gender is specified or canonically established, nor that it matters, but the ones that are gendered in their brief character descriptions will be referred to as such. There's no centralized lorebook for the Gogos in any form, as this was never a super narrative brand, and often, I have only fan wikis to go on, which can't be fully reliable. This was basically a boys' toyline, and it was the 2000s, which means you'll be fighting for your life to find especially broad and numerous female representation, but a few Gogos can be reasonably gendered female by design assumption even if their descriptions don't use pronouns.
Since there's little to go on, my reactions to these guys will trend a little pithier and allow for silly reads of what I personally think these characters are like, in lieu of much concrete definition for them. Apologies if there are any Gogos lore-heads out there who know the secret texts or what have you. If such people exist. Look, maybe one of these Gogos is your husband. Maybe one of them killed your grandma and owes you money and it's super problematic to like it as a result. Maybe it's canon that one of these Gogos abolished slavery in their universe. If any of these happen to be the case, I simply don't know. I'm just going off what I have and being silly.
Mosh
This is the first Gogo in Series 1's list, and is the mascot of sorts for the whole modern Gogos rebrand. I guess I understand the choice. He does look friendly and has a charming appeal!
Nasako
Always cool because he has a special scoring technique.
This one looks like a generic "hero" type, though the character on his chest apparently reads "injustice". Mixed signals there, my guy. Don't know if I trust you. Also not a fan of this design.
Sato
Ready for the fight. Where's the ring?
My first Gogo. He honestly works solely for the color and clean art style and no theme, because an angry bean-headed boxer isn't my vibe otherwise.
Okori
Nobody knows what he eats, but whatever it is, it isn't doing him any good.
There are some special Gogo descriptions, few and far between, which are just deranged sentences that utterly enthrall me with their nonsense. What even. Why do people think his diet is failing him?
I love Okori's design, too. His monster face is perfect, a bit Domo-kun with the mouth, perhaps, and it suits his sculpt too. The name may have been chosen to sound like "ice" in Japanese, and the kanji on his head is nearly "ice", but says "water" instead. I wouldn't be surprised if the intent was for it to say "ice" and it was just done wrong. Magic Box aren't Japanese, for all they want to court the aesthetic.
Tori
Clever and fun. He likes to be the boss.
Another one on the hero-ninja spectrum, and another one I'm not a huge fan of. Rarely will you see me loving a Gogo with a helmet or hero mask and a humanoid skintone face. Also not sure I see the clever or bossy in this design.
Helly
The fastest Gogo. His helmet helps him to go breathtakingly fast.
Our resident speed-demon, and possible robot with those mechanical fingers! I think this Gogo is far too easy to confuse with Temp in this very series, but both designs work pretty well, and Helly is one of those designs I point to if I want to identify the general tone of the Gogos I grew up with.
Skull
He looks mysterious, and when you least expect it, he'll do something funny to make you jump.
I don't like startles at all, but what else would a skeleton really be doing? Skull here is one of those Gogos whose design isn't versatile for many other color variants, and the white is the only version you'd really want. I got magenta Skull first, and I dubbed white Skull a necessary addition to my collection, getting a smaller lot that included him. Otherwise, the look is a bit generically edgy, but it's a look that always works. I'm fine with the eyes being asymmetrical, but the cheek hollows should have been mirrored. It looks more like a misprint to have those be different shapes.
Skull is the first inductee into the Gogo spooky club. This will be a special group to scatter around next year's Halloween decorations!
Skull's Wanted version changes his face to give him a lively expression and a game controller for eyes, but it's not as relevant to his name.
Angiru
Tell Angiru your secrets and they will be safe forever.
This one's got an interesting look. With button eyes, he resembles a cloth doll and is most reminiscent of a creepier Sackboy from Little BigPlanet. His smile is also rather eerie in a fun way, though perhaps his emphasis on face sculpting over print makes him different from most other modern Gogos. Angiru has a lowercase "a" on his torso.
Angiru's Most Wanted variant has some nice detail.
Umu
Likes to visit the swimming pool every day to think up new ideas.
I like a swimmer inasmuch as I like swimming, though this toga (towel?) and swimming cap aren't the most appealing. I do think the egg yellow casting color I got suits Umu's print design, though.
Aiko
The Gogo with the best sense of smell. Can detect a smell from a mile away.
I'm inclined to interpret this name as feminine from my casual knowledge of Japanese, but have nothing else to go on. This Gogo looks like a hedgehog, or perhaps an echidna, and has a cute face and some interesting stylized streaks of paint. I might like the design more with a different color for those flourishes--one that popped more or looked good on more colors. It suits the lemon yellow better than the violet in the two variants I got.
Ichiro
Don't stare into his eyes; you'll be overcome by his great mental power.
This one feels very much like a Dragon Ball Z character to me somehow. I like the design okay, but he's harder to stand and keep sturdy. The base is tiny and the copies of violet Ichiro I got had poorly molded bases that weren't properly flat.
Ichiro's Most Wanted variant is simple but devilish. I like his expression.
Nuclos
Absorbs pollution and leaves the air really clean.
Nuclos gives us our obligatory radiation-hazard monster design, and I like the big yellow gas mask taking up his whole body. The fact that this guy cleans up pollution by breathing it in is a fun twist, and he did it well before Galarian Weezing was written to do the same! Violet Nuclos would be my favorite if I had a copy without a distracting paint chip, but since I don't, lemon yellow is my favored copy. It suits the hazmat theme and works well with the mask.
Boy
The best blindfolded runner. He never falls over.
Looks like he's wearing underpants on his head. No thanks.
Neko
Uses its body to protect other Gogos from fire.
How? He is the fire! I do really like this one's design and I'd love to have him in the orange variant, but that wasn't one of my most essential Gogos. Not sure where his name comes from. He's not a cat.
Hazard
When faced with danger, it just grits its teeth and carries on.
Aww, poor thing! Love the sculpt and face design and name here.
I also got Wanted Hazard, whose face design and split colors create a totally different look. I really like this one too, though. It's a bit harlequin.
Sun
Fires a ray at optimism at any Gogos in its path.
I never like positivity and aggression being mixed together, but I do like Sun's design! It's more abstract scenery of a sun and birds on the body of a faceless Gogo. Series 6 would do several others like this, and it's fun to see a Gogo who's more like a canvas for non-character imagery. I just wish the white paint was more opaque and spotless.
Hiro
Solves problems with electrifying 500w ideas.
The design is a little dull for me. I get the lightbulb on the helmet, and I like that this helmet character isn't more humanoid, but he's still not a favorite.
Aka
Can collide with 100 Gogos without getting any bumps or bruises.
This design works out fine. He looks like he's got a dinosaur-esque ramming horn on his head and his expression and the dirty mark on his face make him look like a scuffler. Like Aiko, the paint color looks best on a yellow body color.
Molly
Getting angry is no problem--because it lasts less than a second!
Very similar to Hazard, like Temp is to Helly, but another case where each still works. I do appreciate that the series don't have such similar characters within them after Series 1, though. Not sure if Molly is a girl or not, though the name suggests so. I like the design.
Nari
Don't try and out-stare Nari--you will lose.
This feels like the bio to give a creature with much bigger eyes, or no face but eye. The design is cute enough, and the red color variant flatters him.
Simi
Smiling charges up his powers. He smiles and then shoots away.
Terrifying. I think this is supposed to be a guy powered by positivity, but it sounds menacing as hell to see this thing grinning as it waits for its energy to build and annihilate you with it.
Codi
Always connected. Ask him anything and the data will be downloaded.
That's a very "computer" description for a Gogo whose face is a television...but I love that his face is a television. It looks like a cartoon graphic replacing a face, but you could also see it as the antennae being eyes and the TV screen being a mouth, perhaps. I really like this design. I would like him even more if I had one of his yellow variants.
Hiraku
The most daring pirate--endless adventures.
This is an interesting bit of stylization, because I always saw something more punk or industrial to this guy's design and never would have read him as a pirate without the bio. Is that a mouth under the hat section, or a dog nose?
Hiraku's Most Wanted version is cast in black rather than one of the colors from his standard palette. This one looks a bit more like a person in a costume, and I like the attempt at a fanged open mouth on the portion below the hat.
Rufus
Sees the things the other Gogos can't using the power of Planet X.
So it's an alien? I see it, with the black eyes and all. I like this one's stylization and expression. He's an angry Martian. Having one of his green editions would be ideal.
Temp
Is the water really cold? What time is it going to rain? Just ask Temp!
So Temp is supposed to be some kind of living thermometer/barometer, I guess. The name and torso graphic make that obvious enough, but I always only saw the oddball head design and single eye, which gave me none of those connotations.
Pibi
Organizes ideas in both sides of its head. Need ideas? Speak to Pibi.
This guy sounds like a streaming service. I do like the split-face color design, though, and the eye expression. Less a fan of his...singlet? Not a flattering costume.
Dare
The best-looking Gogo. He always looks his best.
Repeating yourself doesn't help your case, man. I do like your design, but you seem desperate and unhealthy.
Which are the eyes? The top shapes or the circles? Are the circles cheeks? Nostrils?
Danko
Feline, fast, agile, and well-behaved.
This one looks more like a fox to me than a cat, but that's alright. A well-behaved feline is a rarity.
McToy
Always careful and questioning. Never makes a wrong move.
That's how I'm always trying to be. Think first, question, and be cautious and you're less likely to cause a disaster. The name and question mark almost make me wonder if he's a symbol of mystery toys as a genre.
Wanted McToy has a very different animal-like face. Not a big fan of this one.
Gaiji
Takes control of the situation. An expert in crowd control.
Another anime-hero type, but I like his design. Lack of a humanoid skintone helps.
Lessi
Sometimes feels a little low; you might need to perk him up.
Another Gogo let down by a human flesh-toned face and a helmet or mask look. I'd love this guy with this same face and no helmet design. I like a big cartoony frown, but the rest of the design isn't my taste. Also not a fan of the eyes through the helmet.
Pop
Loves music and dances non-stop.
I've heard this Gogo interpreted as female, and I like that well enough, though I can't source she/her pronouns being used for the character. Pop's Urban Toys edition was renamed Lynda, though, so that's stronger evidence. This is a simple design with headphones but I like the dashed facial aesthetic that gives her a digital kind of tone.
Imon
Absorbs ideas through its star.
This is an odd one. Kind of fierce looking, but more of a mentally-oriented character? Not quite my visual aesthetic.
Jelly
Brave enough for any battle.
This is Darth Vader, right? I don't know what exactly happened to him to end up this way, but I really like this journey for him.
Sumon
Traps his enemies inside his huge powerful jaws.
Possibly my favorite Gogo out of all of Series 1. He looks like an anime monster derived from yōkai lore, he looks like an alien, he looks like an Aaahh!!! Real Monster. Perfection.
I'm starting a yōkai club of Gogos for those which give me that aesthetic impression. Not quite the same as the spooky club.
Cho
Races ahead at full speed, and that's why he doesn't have any teeth left.
There's another unhinged bio for you. Going so fast he doesn't stop and smashes his teeth out is a pretty wild story for this guy. The character on his head means "flash".
Wanted Cho is a simple change but looks pretty cool. This one is cast in black rather than using a color from his standard casting palette.
Raysun
Has a great time bringing sunshine into the Gogos' world.
A sun-headed Gogo makes sense, though putting him in the same series as Sun, the Gogo with a sun on his torso, is strange. It's also very strange that Raysun was not assigned the "fully warm" palette offered to Series 1 Gogo variants, since you'd want this design cast in yellow, red, orange, etc...but this is the "cool" palette instead--two greens, two blues, and purple. Raysun also has a censor fig leaf on his crotch, which raises questions about Gogo anatomy that concern me.
Fist
Holds a secret strength inside his fist.
Fist is...a fist. Or a humanoid with a hand for a head which is clenched in a fist. Seems aggressive. I enjoy surrealist "thing replaces head" character designs, and this suits the cool-guy tone of Series 1. I just worry about the anger issues.
Fist's Most Wanted version uses black as a base instead of his standard casting palette, and leans hard into a street-art look with more color and a bit of surrealism. It's a fun paint job, though I'm more partial to the standard version.
Zar-Zar
Pretends not to understand but knows much more than you think.
Love this guy. Love a dopey goofy bulky alien. Great in every color. Absolute perfection.
Hayato
Wants 20 mirrors nearby to keep an eye on everything.
This one is Series 1 in the best ways. She looks like a futuristic city girl, perhaps a bit adjacent to the general vibe of Splatoon, and the flesh-faced humanoid Gogos generally work best for me when they're not depicted as masked or helmed. As a girl with racing-striped hair, the design works.
Bigu
Stands tall and upright. Gives fun orders to the troops.
A few of the Series 1 Gogos really exemplify the street/city modern aesthetic that got the series renamed "Urban Toys". Bigu, like Hayato, is one of those that makes that tone clear, since he's just a caricature of a smiling big guy in a sleeveless hoodie. I prefer my Gogos more avant-garde, or at the least, more cartoony and unfamiliar, so this guy isn't super special to me. Hayato pushes the aesthetic into my range of appeal.
Ojaru
Badly sewn together, but strong enough to hold the secret of flight.
This one looks like an asymmetric plush toy that's been cobbled together with stitching but he's very cute...and apparently can fly. Series 2 implies that before evolving, Ojaru's big ears were used as wings, Dumbo-style.
Speed
Turns his head with supersonic speed and always sees the world around him.
Fast, but only as far as looking around? That's a strange limited focus there, Speed. Perhaps Helly being the fastest Gogo made Speed give up on that claim to fame.
Tremi
Appearances can be deceptive. Not as grumpy as he looks.
Oof; I can relate. As someone whose neutral resting face has often gotten people asking "what's wrong, are you okay?", I understand people who get the wrong reaction through no fault of their own.
Wanted Tremi keeps the base face the same but adds paint colors. Not as appealing as the simpler design.
B-Boy
Eats a lot of popcorn to improve bouncing power.
Oh, bro! Same! Except for that bouncing part!
Also, like, hey. The X-Nauts would like to have a word. You're biting their style. Ubless those circles are nostrils of a pig snout with the eyes just above?
I also got B-Boy's Most Wanted variant, which is worse. I like B-Boy a lot, but not his variant. Not one I'd have hunted for, despite him being the only MW variant I got from Series 1. He does have paint wrapping arounf the back, unlike most Gogos.
Mochi
A lucky charm amongst the Gogos family.
A lucky charm with X eyes and a frown? Lucky for who? He looks like someone made a voodoo doll to hurt Bart Simpson and Charlie Brown simultaneously. And why is he named for rice jelly? Does it matter? I love him.
Popus
Digs long tunnels to move around without anyone knowing he is there.
Creepy bio and unrelatable face. He can stay where he is. He almost looks like Hiraku flipped upside-down, though.
Tube
Thanks to gramophone ears, it hears everything and can play it all back.
So those frills are actually like pipes on its head? Huh. Tube's face appears to depict an eyeless creature with a broad nose and tusks, unless that flat shape is a featureless eye, and he's a reclining Gogo and takes up a higher amount of horizontal space.
I also got Tube's Wanted variant, which I'd assumed was a separate character for many years before understanding this toyline better. This one has a really different energetic mime-makeup face that looks nothing like normal Tube and is a little freaky.
With that face and that pose, Wanted Tube looks super annoying.
Cubic
A robot Gogo who is an expert mechanic.
A pretty cute design. I think the grey Cubic is best, and kind of the only one that makes sense.
B-King
When he sits down to think, he acts like a tribal chief.
I'm not sure what that means. This looks more like a monster dog or Minotaur/Cyclops/Cerberus mix. I like his vibe. I always read the dots as holes like a hockey mask, but they can also be read as simplified teeth in an implied open mouth.
Croc
Croc is a checkered crocodile--in other words, a crocodile chess master.
What does this mean? Is this a translation issue? Is he meant to be a crocodile chess piece in a nod to the Gogos being used for games? A chess set with Gogo pieces could have been another product idea, I guess, though it wouldn't make much sense. I did get the best color for Croc, in olive. Series 1 has a few Gogos that look better in profile than head-on, but that's not so common in later sets.
Ufus
With its rubber ninja body, it can fly long distances between bounces.
Eh.
Wanted Ufus is more wacky, almost looking like his head is a giant set of green-gummed teeth maybe? I don't quite get it.
Egbot
Communicates through waves thanks to his electromagnetic mouth.
I wonder if they mean his mouth is an oscillating signal wave like you sometimes see in cartoons, or just that he uses signals to transmit audio. I love this guy's shape and sculpt.
Of the Wanted designs I didn't get, Egbot's is probably my favorite, turning him into some kind of mobile aquarium!
H-83
A strong shell makes it super resistant.
A skull face is cool, but a military robot, which this looks like, is toxic and I cannot support it. Prison forever.
Atori
Keeps all his knowledge safe inside and then closes the zip.
Atori is a guy with a zipper on his head, which I never understood until reading his bio. I never loved his design myself, and his casting palette doesn't help. His Wanted version is super artsy and mysterious and pop, and seeing it in an eBay lot was a factor into choosing that lot for my collection expansion.
This also gets a spot in the yōkai club.
 |
| I love this Gogo. |
You know what, Wanted Atori is also gonna be first entry to the "diva" club, because, I mean.
B-Ball
If the sport has a ball, he is the master.
So this is the final boss of that hackneyed joke of "Sportsball". Far be it from me to indulge in overdone unfunny "eww sports" jokes, but this Gogo simply couldn't be further from myself. It is interesting to see those few Gogos sculpted with accessories, though.
Usuzi
If something goes wrong, he is very nervous until a solution is found.
A panicking robot is a fun idea, but I'm not sure I love the sculpt, and I think the paint is too simple and boring. I think the sculpt indicates the robot is wearing a cape, but it doesn't look great.
Wanted Usuzi gives the bot more personality and a paint level I would have expected from the main. Wanted Usuzi feels less extravagant. I like this one more.
Eco
Can travel over any obstacle or difficult terrain using four arms.
Right now, he looks like he's doing a yoga sit, but I can appreciate an agile robot.
Oh!
Loves to surprise all the other Gogos.
A couple of Gogos have their names written right on them, and Oh! is one such case. It's a fun touch and Oh! might be my favorite of these labeled Gogos. I wish the print was brighter and more opaque. Maybe this was the wrong print color or casting palette for this design.
Alkaline
Ultra turbo-charged power. Full blast energy.
The most toxic man you've ever seen in your entire life. Unbelievable levels of caricature. The bulky muscles, the name emblazoned across the pecs, whatever monstrosity is happening on the crotch...sir, you cannot be ethically allowed to coexist with anybody without massive personal adjustments. This is ridiculous.
Awa-Shima
Always ready for action, but don't bother him for anything else.
This is just...an anime boy, edgy-hero-style with spiky hair, harsh brows, and half-lidded eyes. It works, but it's minimally stylized. I like the black version most.
I also got Awa-Shima's Wanted variant, which is more cybernetic and two-toned.
Ghost
Dark mystery. Not everyone dares look him in the face.
This is just easy mode for Magic Box seeking to win my favor, but I'm a sucker. It works. Love this guy, in any color. Perfect spooky Gogo. He's in the club.
I like the brown Ghost more in theory, but mine has his skull printed too low.
Tut
The curious mummy. Can remove a tiny bit of bandage to see what's going on.
And another lay-up for Magic Box! I am easy. I'm delighted I got the white version to really conjure the right mummy design look.
Welcome to the spooky club!
Wanted Tut is just a mess. I don't want him, thank you very much.
Matsue
Very proud of his super cool haircut.
Oh, you poor sweet boy. Cherish that, because that haircut will be "cool" instead of "pathetic" or "skeevy" for only a few precious years before becoming a very dated, and in some cases, reprehensible, relic of the 2000s/2010s.
Akita
Friend and loyal companion. You can always count on Akita.
He's named for a Japanese dog breed similar to Shiba Inus, but the only dog association that runs through my mind is esnupi?
Shizuoka
With just one cry, he can get all the Gogos' attention.
Yeah, I can tell. His face is nothing but a huge open mouth, and it's honestly kind of unsettling, but in a way I like. There's a naked mole rat uncanniness here. I think he gets to join the yōkai club. Because I say so, with zero authority on such a designation.
Miyake
Cuts through the water at amazing speed.
A fish Gogo, but oddly realistic and a bit lifeless-looking. I don't love it. This one unsettles me.
Fujichik
Flies fast and high, but lands soft and smooth.
A fashionista chicken. He's a guy, but maybe he qualifies for the diva club.
Tsu
Juices, cold drinks...he always has a drink handy. A thirsty Gogo.
Honestly, same. Live your life. Worry about the bathroom later.
Kokubu
The life and soul of any party. Invited to every occasion.
When I got these figures originally, I had no concept of the Gogos having color variants, and I used color stereotyping and the swirly hair on top to gender this character as the girl of the trio I got, but Kokubu is actually a dude. I feel a sense of nostalgic attachment to this Gogo if nothing else. Being an early entry and part of a childhood moment will do that.
Wanted Kokubu is maybe the only Wanted figure who feels like it could still be the same character, and the color scheme is fun here.
Izumi
Loves speed and never gets off his motorbike.
Boring. Not an ideal design for the relatively 2D nature of Gogos anyhow, and not my vibe.
Ako
The ultimate minder. 50 special moves ready to go.
This is another one that thrives on one variant, and it's the white one for him too. That one looks like a spooky alien, but the other colors lose something. White Ako was a necessity for me. Doesn't matter to me that he's wearing a gi and playing into classic hero visuals, either. When you have that striking alien face, I don't care!
Kami-Kami
Brushes his teeth before playing any game. Always fresh and minty.
Nerd emoji-lookin' thing. I hate it...but the white casting ended up looking more displayable with its stark contrast.
Sago
Changes shape to fit into any space.
A sinister humanoid with a wicked face and tentacle arms and octopus powers. Do I even need to say he's great?
Vampa
Not seen much during the day. He moves in the dark.
Very loosely, this is a vampire. None of his colors are ideal for the concept, but the white and magenta ones both work. I'd love to have the magenta and complete the set. He's not the most obviously classically vampiric, but he is a really cute spooky monster all the same!
You know he's in the club.
Misha
Cute and cuddly. The best sleeping companion around.
I'd probably like this one more without the pointy chin contour, but it works fine.
Yuza
As strong as a rock. Arms like granite.
The jockish Gogos typically don't do much for me, but this guy is hilarious. I love that silly face.
Tan Chia
Wants to be the Gogos' hero. Always ready for action.
Another one, perhaps even intended to pair with Yuza.
Not nearly as fun as Yuza, though.
Kolo
A futuristic Gogo who loves technology. Floats through space guided by the stars.
This design is nearly illegible and I don't like the paint color. An astronaut Gogo could be better than this.
Evi
Although he tries to frighten his friends, he makes them laugh more than anything.
Evi as in evil! He looks precisely like a fusion of a Virus from Dr. Mario and one of the Spy Vs. Spy...spies. I love it. Wicked little energy with gnashing teeth always plays well with me. My first Evi was lilac, but he needed a hotter, redder color to come alive for me, so I got a magenta copy. He didn't come in pure red, but this is good. Unfortunately, it was a slight monkey-paw situation where the magenta Evi had distracting paint chips on his face, so I did what I could to patch it up with my own paint so it's not distracting.
Conclusion
Series 1 overall is a mixed lot for me. A few of my favorite Gogos are in this series, but the street aesthetic of the series and more classic "boy's-toy" appeal leave a lot I don't connect to in Series 1, too. There's a lot of boy-coded "cool humanoid hero" aesthetics that do nothing for me here, and some flavors of the street-art tone feel less interesting than others.
I think overall, it's my least favorite casting palette of the series, too. There are good vibrant colors, yes, and the white Gogos all look very sharp. (I'd legitimately collect a whole set of Series 1 Gogos rendered solely in high-contrast pretentious black and white.) Unfortunately, the series also has some of my least favorite Gogo colors to me--the grey, brown, lilac, olive, and ochre yellow are effective on several characters, but some Gogos feel less appealing with them. I got sick of seeing the lilac and ochre yellow most of all when collecting Series 1, and most characters I got in those two colors, I preferred in other colors they were given. The only Series 1 characters I selected for display in the lilac were Kokubu, who was one of my first and who I got in that color (which superseded my lack of affection for the lilac in other cases), and Gogos I only owned in the lilac. The ochre yellow bothered me less than the lilac, but there were a few Series 1 Gogos I was frustrated to own in the color when it didn't seem to make much sense for them.
Series 1 was a good start, but more of a heavy-handed boy's toy design than I personally connected to. I intend to keep one of each character just to have them, but many won't get the honor of display after this project is done. I make no promises on when Series 2 will be finished and reviewed. I have dolls taking over my focus right now and into the rest of December, so the Gogos project might resume a bit later.
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