Tag: 1982

The Machine Robo line came out in 1982 in Japan as Popy robots and later from Bandai itself when they were absorbed back into the parent company in 1983 as robot sales fell. These robots came out as Gobots from Tonka in the US a couple of years later.

These are easily some of my favorite robots. I love the packaging they come in. You can take them out, transform them, then put them back in and they take up so little space. They are so easy to transform and they are the same size of Matchbox or Hot Wheels cars so they can be run on their playsets and tracks. They are by far superior to the Mini Vehicles that came out for Generation 1 Transformers in 1984 and even the Transformers Generation 2 Go-Bots line that came out 1995.

These are great little robots. It is a shame that Bandai has not seen fit to re-issue these amazing little robots. I have been looking to pickup a few more of these, but my cousin could not find them in Japan and some of them are so expensive on eBay. With a little luck, I will get one or two more.

I bought at least 6 of these in the 80’s when I went to Japan in 1984 or 1985, because they were pretty much the only ones I could afford. I remember paying 600 yen for them. I think that was around $6 at that time. That’s why I picked up Albegas in Singapore. For $40 it was the biggest, cheapest big robot I could afford at the time. Though it was definitely not my first choice. There were a bunch of awesome Popy DX robots just out of my price range at $80 a pop(which was pretty much my whole budget).  The first line of Machine Robo came out in 1982 running out to 1985.

I have been meaning to watch the Machine Robo: Revenge of Cronos anime that came out in response to the Transformers cartoon coming out. I have watched the first episode below which interesting and so much better than the GoBots cartoon here in the states. A newer cartoon in 2003 aired called Machine Robo Rescue came out with in intriguing line of combiner robots that I am considering adding to my collection. The robots combine into robots that look like they came from the first series. I would love to add more of these to my collection. I will try to get some pictures of the individual robots later.

Here is the first episode for Machine Robo: Revenge of Cronos anime that ran from 1986-1987.

Machine Robo Popy Bandai 1982-1985

Machine Robo Popy Bandai 1982-1985

Machine Robo Popy Bandai 1982-1985 vehicle side

Machine Robo Popy Bandai 1982-1985

Machine Robo Popy Bandai 1982-1985

Machine Robo Popy Bandai 1982-1985

Machine Robo Popy Bandai 1982-1985 robot side

Gardian GoDaiKin by Bandai 1982 from anime Toshi Gordian 1979-1980

Gardian GoDaiKin by Bandai 1982 from anime Toshi Gordian 1979-1980

Gardian GoDaiKin by Bandai 1982 from anime Toshi Gordian 1979-1980

Gardian is one of my favorite Godaikins. It was one of the first I saw in the 80’s in Singapore and my cousin had the Bandai Godaikin. This was my intro to big ass diecast robots. For me this is one of the classic 80’s robots. I loved the nesting feature for Garbin, Delinger and Protesser which makes it pretty unique, but it made the robot a little fragile. When I tried to put a robot inside Garbin some plastic inside the knee snapped off. That is why I haven’t pulled it out for a picture outside the box. That and some laziness on my part.

I love that you got 3 robots for the price of one, even though the smallest one Protesser  seems like a bit of an afterthought.  Protesser  is my favorite robot of the 3, but I wish it  was bigger. Actually the little yellow guy that goes inside Daigo Otaki, now that is an afterthought. Its nice to display the 3 of them side by side. Not much flexibility if any in posing these robots, except for bending the arms. I wouldn’t mind picking up a remake of these robots that had some articulation.

I always thought the Godaikins were a bit on the expensive side. It was hard to shell out the $40-80 for a one of these toys when you are a kid. But I found out they basically shipped these from Japan, pulled them from the Japanese Popy boxes and put them in their US Godaikin boxes which was an added expense. I have heard these were on clearance in the late 80’s and early 90’s at Toy’s R Us and KayBee Toys, but I never saw them on sale.

As always, the DX Godaikins have great accessories. Two swords, the laser screw, an axe, clint and a shield. I love the big swords on all of these Popy robots. It was always a party of the appeal of these robots to me.

Saw another cool robot that is very similar to this one named Baikanfu. It is from the Machine Robo line and it is a red robot that is a bit stockier. So it does not look as fragile. I have been looking for a nice one, but it has been a while since I have seen it. I usually only see the Taiwan knock off version.

Here is a intro for the anime Gordian Warrior. It ran for 73 episodes which is pretty long for most anime series.

The Protector Self Separation is from Hong Kong. The quality and paint finish on these are not nearly as good as the original Japanese versions. Especially around Garbin’s mouth grill, the paint application seems kinda burnt in. Guess Bandai or Popy sold the molds to another company when they no longer needed them. I bought this piece because I was worried I would break my Godaikin Gardian as it was a really brittle. When I tried moving the Garbin on the Godaikin Gardian for pictures, the white plastic in the knees cracked a little and I was worried about the arms being fragile. I wanted a version I would feel comfortable displaying and combining so I would not have to worry about it breaking it. Protector Self Separation was the robot for the job. ***

Protector Self Separation – Gardian GoDaiKin clone from Hong Kong

Protector Self Separation – Gardian GoDaiKin clone from Hong Kong