Author: Con

10,000 Page Views!

Battle Fever, Poseidon, Raydeen, Gamma Robo, Albegas, Raider, Dragun, Godsigma, Blue Gorg

10,000 Visits!

So after a year and 4 months, many robots, and 245 posts later, we finally made it to 10,000 page views! Still trying to make it to 10,000 visitors.

So lately I have just been writing about anime I have been watching on Netflix. I really meant to concentrate on robot anime. But I let my binge watching take me in different directions after finishing Gurren Lagann, like Kill la Kill, Sword Art Online and Death Note. I will start digging for more robot anime and putting out some robot posts, soon. I think I was just tired of editing photos. So now that I have had a break back to robots!

 

Macross Collection includes the VF-1A, VF-1J, VF-1S, VT-1, VE-1, SDF-1, GBP-1S Fast Pack 1/55 Takatoku Toys and Bandai releases from anime The Super Dimension Fortress Macross and the anime movie Do You Remember Love? (超時空要塞マクロス 愛・おぼえていますか Chōjikū Yōsai Makurosu: Ai Oboete Imasu ka) 1984

Macross Collection includes the VF-1A, VF-1J, VF-1S, VT-1, VE-1, SDF-1, GBP-1S Fast Pack 1/55 Takatoku Toys and Bandai releases

Kill la Kill 2013

More Netflix anime binge watching brought me to Kill la Kill. I have no idea why it is named that after watching the whole darn series. I honestly thought this was going to be a pretty lame series. I am not sure how I made it that deep into the series without giving up on it because it was pretty bad.

It is about a 17 year old girl on a quest to find her dad’s killer that leads her Honnouji Academy and conflict with the president of the student council. Sounds lame right? Well actually, it was until episode 17, but actually now that I think about it episode 4 was the hook. I laughed my ass off on that one. I definitely have to watch that one again. The comedy relief in Mako Mankanshoku and her family was probably my favorite part of the series. The silliness and insanity probably was its saving grace as I was not a fan of Ryuko or Satsuki the two main characters.

I didn’t see much of a need for the revealing odd costumes/living clothing during the fighting transformations. It seemed like a fighting anime with a crappy storyline with a little too much fan service. Then bottom drops out on episode 17 and the story flips you for a doozy. All of a sudden the story goes scifi and I really found myself enjoying the plot twist. It changed my mind about the whole series. So if you like fighting anime with a little bit of skin and whole lot of silliness, Kill la Kill is not a bad way to kill time…

Rating 7/10 pretty good, go watch it!



Harmony Super Change Avion Transformable Robot

I was just resizing my images when I found this last bootleg the Super Change Robot from Harmony on my trip to France last year.  Two of the same robots in red and yellow. I can’t figure out which robot this is a knockoff of. I am guessing it was a Transformer, but not sure which one. This is from the same store in Lourdes(France) right across the street from the chapel on the field. They sell a lot of religious tourist trap stuff at the store, but they also had some toys to keep the kids from driving their parents nuts religious pilgrimage. I would not pay 5 euros for these robots.

 

Harmony Super Change Avion Transformable Robot Bootleg KO Knockoff

Harmony Super Change Avion Transformable Robot

From the first picture you can see Harmony makes a bunch of other cheap toys. I could not find any info on the net for the Harmony Super Change Avion Transformable en Robot Plastique. So I guess I am the only one who has a post on this little bugger. Anyways, I always find the bootlegs pretty fun to post. I am sure I will find more soon. It is odd that the text ,”Avion Transformable en Robot Plastique” means Transformable Robot Plastic airplane when it is clearly a robot car. Go figure.  Someone needs to learn French.

Harmony Super Change Avion Transformable Robot

Harmony Super Change Avion Transformable Robot



Space Battleship Yamato 2199

I have been on an anime watching binge due to Space Battleship Yamato 2199. I have been meaning to watch this for a few months and I just watched them all in December. Earth is on the verge of destruction in 2199 due to meteor bombs dropped by the Gamilas. The Space Battleship Yamato rushes off to Iscandar in hope of restoring the earth.

While several changes have been made to the series, the remake is very faithful to the original anime. I was surprised how they used the original score and sound effects, which really brought it all back for me. The original Star Blazers is probably my favorite anime to this day, but this remake with a few changes to modernize the plot and bring more depth was a lot of fun. The battles were much more fun to watch and the action was better.

Space Battleship Yamato 2199 Cast Crew Uchū Senkan Yamato 2199 宇宙戦艦ヤマト2199  2012 anime

The crew of the Space Battleship Yamato from anime Uchū Senkan Yamato 2199 宇宙戦艦ヤマト2199

I really enjoyed the new and original characters and their rich back stories. Nova and Princess Starsha were the only female characters in the original series(and they both looked the same) which made no sense, but the new version fixes this and creates a better balance in the male/female ratio. The animation is beautiful, it really brings the series into this century.  The background stories about rebellion on Gamilas and how the conquered non blue people were treated was interesting and unexpected. Even with more characters and relationships, each character had much more fleshed out than in the original series. Akira Yamamoto and Melda Dietz were new characters that made this a much richer experience. Even older characters like  Erich Domel and Shiro Sanada were much more empathetic. The episode with the psychic really threw me for a loop! That was pretty awesome. I can’t say more without giving anything away. There was an episode with an artificial intelligence that I really enjoyed as well. This is likely the best remake I have ever had the pleasure of watching.

Space Battleship Yamato 2199 (Uchū Senkan Yamato 2199) 2012 anime Susumu Kodai and Melda Dietz

Susumu Kodai and Melda Dietz

While the original series was a classic, this remake takes it to greater heights. I read a review on Kotaku where there are definitely some story flaws, but I may be blinded by my love for this cartoon. Be that as it may, it only detracts a little bit for me and I still rate this anime a 10 out of 10 for me. If you love space opera, this is better than Gundam for me and I love Gundam too! Here is to hoping that there is a remake of the second season in the works out there.

Space Battleship Yamato 2199 Uchū Senkan Yamato 2199 宇宙戦艦ヤマト2199  2012 anime

Space Battleship Yamato 2199 (Uchū Senkan Yamato 2199 宇宙戦艦ヤマト2199) 2012



Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

Honestly, I really should be putting up the rest of my robots, but I have been busy making changes so I can change the template on the site. Once I finish, changing the template it’s back to posting robots for me! In the meantime, I have been watching some anime and been pleasantly surprised.
Gurren Lagann anime image 2
So I was looking for new anime that would be cool to watch. One of the highly rated ones on Netflix peaked my interest as it was about a big super robot.  Your average monster of the week versus Gurren Lagann. I watched through the first story arc and thought it was over(and kind of lame). Super robots kicking ass is usually decent entertainment. For the most part it was pretty shallow, nothing to write home about. Lots of silliness, action and fun. I actually kicked it to the side for a month or two after watching the first episode. I thought the robot was just a big head. Not quite what I was looking for, after a few more episodes a few months later now I have a super robot. Which was just alright for me.

But the first episode of the second story arc the storyline just went nuts. The story got serious and SO much darker and deeper.  There are a few twists that just take this series way over the top. Watching the first part of this series, you never would have suspected it would get this good or that it would even go in this direction. The first 16 episodes are just a prelude to the real story of Simon the Digger. Initially, I thought the storyline would be about Kamina. The ending is a little bittersweet, but watching till the end is worth the payoff. That 2nd part goes a bit Sci-Fi  and I loved where it took me. Go Team Gurren!

I rate this a  8/10.  Definitely and surprisingly worth your time if you don’t mind waiting 16 episodes for it to get good.

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann anime 2007 (天元突破グレンラガン Tengen Toppa Guren Ragan) Image shows Kamina, Yoko, Simon, Nia

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann anime 2007



Space Battleship Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 2009 Taito 1/590 scale

So I have been looking for a gift to myself this year and I have decided on the Space Battleship Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 1/590 scale made by Taito. Sadly the wave motion gun does not light up. I found it on Amazon for $80 and it is pretty amazing. It is 45cm of ship from Taito(17.5 inches long!). No pictures yet(I finally got it March 3! I blame the West Coast port strike), as I am still waiting for it to ship to my house from Japan(Time frames are 30-50 days, does that sound right?). But it looks pretty amazing. I was not planning to get anything from this series, but just started(Finished, and it was frickin amazing) watching Space Battleship Yamato 2199 and started to look for something cool to pick up since I do not have anything from that series. I am trying to figure out how to watch Space Battleship Yamato Resurrection. I am having a hard time finding it anywhere. I watched the American version of the anime in the late 70’s as Star Blazers and I loved it. It was the best cartoon I had seen in my life up to that time. This is the reason I love anime and most likely robots as well. The Transformers and Robotech cartoons came out, then I was hooked.

Space Battleship Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 1/590 scale from 2009 is made by Taito. It is 45 cm or 17.71 inches

Space Battleship Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 1/590 scale from 2009 is made by Taito. It is 45 cm or 17.5 inches

Thanks to Ourstarblazers.com(see more cool Star Blazers toys on that link) I found out this ship is one of the first toys that matches the specs on the ship from the anime exactly. The  computer generated graphics specifications can be used to generate  a solid real life version of what you see in the cartoon! That makes this particular piece pretty amazing. I wish the ship had the wings, but it really does not take away much on the ship. But honestly I just wanted the largest, nicest, cheapest version of the Argo(Yamato, whatever!)  I could find. Usually I really lean towards the die cast metal version(like the Nomura one in 1978 or the Soul of Chogokin BPX-01), but this Yamato really captures everything I love about the ship. The details are amazing. I love the moving turrets, gun barrels you can raise and lower, and the 3rd bridge hatch opens . It’s all plastic, but it’s a beautiful piece and I love it.

Thanks for checking out the site. I went from 768 page views last year which were mostly all me and my cousin, to 8,868 views so far this year and counting. Wishing you all a merry Christmas!

Space Battleship Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 1/590 scale from 2009 is made by Taito. It is 45 cm or 17.71 inches back of box

Space Battleship Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 1/590 scale from 2009 is made by Taito. It is 45 cm or 17.71 inches

Shock Cannons(ショックカノン) Taito Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 1590 scale 2009 45 cm

Shock Cannons Taito Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 1590 scale 2009 45 cm

Hangar Deck & Pulse Lasers Taito Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 1/590 scale 2009 45 cm

Taito Yamato Hangar Deck & Pulse Lasers 2220 Super Mechanics 1/590 scale 2009 45 cm

Wave Motion Gun (波動砲 hadō hō) Taito Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 1/590 scale 2009 45 cm

Wave Motion Gun (波動砲 hadō hō) Taito Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 1/590 scale 2009 45 cm

Pulse Lasers & Bridge Taito Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 1/590 2009 45 cm

Pulse Lasers Taito Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 1/590 2009 45 cm

Wave Motion Engine (波動エンジン hadō enjin) Taito Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 1/590 scale 2009 45 cm

Wave Motion Engine Taito Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 1/590 scale 2009 45 cm

Wave Motion Engine Rear View Taito Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 2009

Wave Motion Engine Rear View Taito Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 2009

Space Battleship Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 1/590 scale 2009 45 cm by Taito

Space Battleship Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 1/590 scale 2009 45 cm by Taito

Cannons, Pulse Lasers and Bridge Taito Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 1-590 2009 45 cm

Cannons, Pulse Lasers and Bridge – Taito Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 1/590 2009 45 cm

Space Battleship Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 1/590 scale from 2009 is made by Taito. It is 45 cm from anime Yamato Resurrection

Space Battleship Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 1/590 scale from 2009 is made by Taito. It is 45 cm

This picture give you a little more perspective on how big it is. Leave some comments if you think it is as amazing as I do…

Polyfect Tornadonumber

Tornado Number is from Polyfect Toys. It is another dollar store find. It appears to be a knockoff of a series that never made it over to the US. Granbird  from the anime  Brave Fighter Sun of Great Fighbird back in 1991-1992 came right after Transformers Generation 1 ended. I am not a fan of the Brave Series robots design wise. Takara made some robots for this in DX deluxe or STD standard versions. A lot of the robots from the series are recycled and modified from the Transformers cartoon.

Sorry, I won’t be putting up any images of this in robot mode as I will not be adding it to my collection. But the quality and build looks better than most robot knockoffs I have seen. If I actually liked the robot it would be on display now. It may be cheaply made, but it does not look cheap. They are fun additions to the site, so I will put them up on my site until they stop making them.

 

Polyfect Tornadonumber Tornado Number aka Granbird  from the anime  Brave Fighter Sun of Great Fighbird in 1991-1992 Taiyō no Yūsha Fighbird 太陽の勇者ファイバード (Japanese)

Polyfect Tornadonumber

Polyfect Toys makes a number of knockoff toys or KO for short, but the quality is much better than I would have thought initially based on Construction the Devastator KO I picked up from them. Even if they do not last, $5.99 for a cheap plastic robot will not break the bank for a nice little display robot.

Polyfect Tornadonumber Tornado Number aka Granbird  from the anime  Brave Fighter Sun of Great Fighbird in 1991-1992 Taiyō no Yūsha Fighbird 太陽の勇者ファイバード (Japanese)

Polyfect Tornado Number

I put an image of the Takara Granbird below. Look familiar?

Yuusha The Brave Fighter Of Sun Fighbird DX Granbird Takara 1991 タカラ 太陽の勇者ファイバード   グランバード DX

Yuusha The Brave Fighter Of Sun Fighbird DX Granbird Takara 1991

Polyfect Tornadonumber Tornado Number aka Granbird  from the anime  Brave Fighter Sun of Great Fighbird in 1991-1992 Taiyō no Yūsha Fighbird 太陽の勇者ファイバード (Japanese)

Polyfect Tornadonumber Tornado Number


Polyfect Power Goldan

Meet Power Goldan or Ougon Gattai Goldran from the anime Ōgon Yūsha Goldran from 1995-1996. I had never heard of Polyfect Toys till I bought Construction(Devastator knock off). They seem to be the fine purveyors of knockoff robots. Power Goldan will not be a part of my collection, but I find this toy line fascinating. The quality is not terrible and these are not the worst robots I have ever seen. But they are all plastic, the color is terrible, and this one looks kinda cheap. The instructions show he can turn into a dinosaur/dragon type robot and back.

Polyfect Power Goldan Powergoldan from anime Goldran the Brave of Gold, Ōgon Yūsha Goldran 黄金勇者ゴルドラン (Japanese) from 1995-1996 Gorudoran

Polyfect Power Goldan Powergoldan

I always find cheap robots fun and really tacky(which is the fun part). So if you don’t mind spending a few bucks on Power Goldan you can add him to your collection on the cheap. I hope they keep extending this line until I see something I like robot wise.

 

Polyfect Power Goldan Powergoldan from anime Goldran the Brave of Gold, Ōgon Yūsha Goldran 黄金勇者ゴルドラン (Japanese) from 1995-1996 Gorudoran

Polyfect Power Goldan Powergoldan



Polyfect Power Goldan Powergoldan from anime Goldran the Brave of Gold, Ōgon Yūsha Goldran 黄金勇者ゴルドラン (Japanese) from 1995-1996 Gorudoran

Polyfect Power Goldan Powergoldan

Bandai Museum

My cousin Dave is in Japan now hunting for robots and he made it out to the Bandai Museum in Mibu 100 km from Tokyo. He was a little miffed it was 2.5 hours away by train. 5 hours on a train both ways would drive me nuts. I guess they do not want a lot of tourist traffic as it is so far off the beaten track.

It does not look like much based the the pictures he took. I have a feeling it is a really small museum. His picture taking skills need a little work based the image of the Sentai robot display. Guess I will have to make it out there myself if I want better pictures.

 

Bandai Museum Sentai robot display Tochigi prefecture Mibu Japan (バンダイミュージアム Bandai Myūjiamu)

Bandai Museum Sentai robot display Mibu, Japan

Due to the quality of the image, I can only make out a few of the Sentai robots. Along the top i see the older ones. On the top left going right I see, Battle Fever J, Daidenjin, Sun Vulcan, Goggle V, Dyjupiter, Dyna Robo, Bio Robo, Change Robo. On the second row from the top I can make out gold robots, Turbo Robo, and Super Turbo Robo. On the third row Star Five, Turbo Robo the, Magma Base just dominates, it is just huge Jet Garuda, Jet Icarus . On the fourth row I can make out VicTrailer, MegaVoyager, BullTaurus, GingaiOh, Giga Phoenix

Bandai Museum Vavilos Space Sheriff Shaider(宇宙刑事シャイダー Uchū Keiji Shaidā) robot display Mibu, Japan(バンダイミュージアム Bandai Myūjiamu)

Bandai Museum Vavilos Space Sheriff Shaider robot display Mibu, Japan

Bandai Museum(バンダイミュージアム Bandai Myūjiamu) Daltanious(未来ロボ ダルタニアス Mirai Robo Darutaniasu)  robot display Tochigi prefecture Mibu

Bandai Museum Daltanious/Daltanias robot display Tochigi prefecture Mibu

Bandai Museum(バンダイミュージアム Bandai Myūjiamu) Jumbo Machinder robot display Tochigi prefecture Mibu

Bandai Museum Jumbo Machinder robot display Tochigi prefecture Mibu

So listed from the top left to right are Daimos, Daitetsujin 17, Five Robo. On the bottom row are Daltanious, Combattler V and Tetsujin 28.


Bandai Museum Popy robot display Mibu, Japan

Bandai Museum Popy robot display Mibu, Japan

Muteking on top, Eva Police, Postoller, Robot 8 Chan(Robo Hacchan), dol Giran, Godsigma ST on the second row

Polyfect Toys Construction 7″ combiner robots

This is Construction(lamest name ever, right?). I found this combiner robot at Danny’s Carwash 6 years ago. Aside from the robot’s name and brand Polyfect Toys, there is almost no English on the package. It’s all in Chinese. But what this really is, is a really cool knock off of the Generation 1 Devastator. Go figure. I had hours of fun playing with these at my desk at work transforming them when I was bored.

 

Polyfect Toys Construction 7" combiner robots Devastator Constructicon Knockoff 37 Diaclone,.  Foreign names - Japanese- Devastor (デバスター Debasutā), French- Dévastateur (Canada), Italian- Uragan, Mandarin- Hǔei-mìeh Chě, Taiwan- 毀滅者, Róu-lìn Chě, Taiwan- 蹂躪者, "Devastator"), Dà Lì Shén (China, 大力神, "Hercules"), Portuguese- Devastador

Polyfect Toys Construction 7″ combiner robots Chinese Devastator Knockoff




The only other English on the box besides Construction is the name of each combiner robot, the distributor, and the choking warning. The names are as generic as you can get(Building, Feeding, Picking, Sanitation, Ravage, Disguise). Wonder what genius figured out those names? Anyway, I lost this piece and I found it again at the Dollar Store. Guess they keep pumping out more of these, but I am glad they did.  I see some Spanish on these, so they must be selling it in Spain or Mexico too. Probably China too, seeing as there is Chinese all over it.

Polyfect Toys Construction 7" combiner robots Devastator Constructicon Knockoff 37 Diaclone,.  Foreign names - Japanese- Devastor (デバスター Debasutā), French- Dévastateur (Canada), Italian- Uragan, Mandarin- Hǔei-mìeh Chě, Taiwan- 毀滅者, Róu-lìn Chě, Taiwan- 蹂躪者, "Devastator"), Dà Lì Shén (China, 大力神, "Hercules"), Portuguese- Devastador

Polyfect Toys Construction 7″ combiner robots Chinese Devastator Knockoff


This is a fun piece to have and such a great price. I only ever had 2 of the original G1 Constructicons, so it is nice to have them all in this piece. I am wondering why they are still selling the Polyfect Construction after all these years. I am thinking Takara must have sold them rights to use the original molds as they look identical to the original Devastator. The quality is not that great(the plastic is cheap and the paint job is not that good), but now I feel much more comfortable transforming each of these as I did not spend a ton on these robots.

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