Tag: anime

The Hi-Metal L-Gaim is one of my favorite pieces. I have always wanted it since I first saw it on my cousin’s shelf in the 80’s.  Except for the yellowing on the plastic, L-Gaim is robot perfection. The detail and quality of the L-Gaim is amazing for the 80’s. I never knew anything about this robot, but I wanted to have one. This is definitely a must have for any Chogokin collectors. The box art is great. As far as I can see, this is the last Popy robot before they remerged back into Bandai. Popy meant high end quality robots and the the Hi-Metal L-Gaim is it! I can’t say enough about this robot.

The thing is, you can usually find the robot for a good price. I usually see it listed around $120 which is amazing for a robot of this quality from the 80’s.  Unfortunately, this white plastic is prone to yellowing like your old SNES(Super Nintendo Entertainment System). You can see what the actual color should be on the metal parts.  Dunno if its cheap plastic as they just did not plan to have these around that long.  I love the articulation and detail this figure has for an old 80’s robot. I can’t really think of any robot that matches its articulation an poseability from the 80’s. I am missing a gun, and I think I have a loose one of these hanging around somewhere.

I have a loose one as well. The brown plastic cable around the joints are broken off on the ends. I would say that is the main problem with this robot as they break pretty easily and I often see those broken when they are on sale,  but not really a deal breaker considering these are 30 year old robots. For me the cherry on the icing is the leg compartments. They open up and have some really nice detail.

Hi-Metal L-Gaim 1/100 Scale Popy Bandai ST 1984 from anime Heavy Metal L Gaim 1984-1985

Hi-Metal L-Gaim 1/100 Scale Popy Bandai 1984

Hi-Metal L-Gaim 1/100 Scale Popy Bandai 1984 from anime Juusenki L-Gaim (重戦機エルガイム) 1984-1985

Hi-Metal L-Gaim 1/100 Scale Popy Bandai 1984 Japanese instructions

Hi-Metal L-Gaim 1/100 Scale Popy Bandai 1984 from anime Juusenki L-Gaim (重戦機エルガイム) 1984-1985

Hi-Metal L-Gaim 1/100 Scale Popy Bandai 1984 from anime Heavy Metal L Gaim 1984-1985

Made in Japan Product of Popy

Heavy Metal L Gaim(重戦機エルガイム) Episode 1, anime tv show from 1984-1985

Here is the Dual Model Soltic Round Facer from the anime Fang of the Sun Dougram. I have been meaning to watch the anime, but I keep forgetting to watch. Looks like there are quite a few episodes on Youtube. I never opened the Soltic robot, so I never got excited about it. I think I will need to purchase a loose one just for display purposes.

The Takara Dougram series of robots are pretty cool robots. I liked the Soltic and Dougram armors as they felt like realistic mecha would, like the Votoms or Gundam robots. The dark green coloring gives the Soltic a nice military vibe and evokes an image of  tank in my mind or military vehicles in general. The modern feel of the Soltic robot reminds me of newer Gundam designs as opposed to the clunkier Votoms robots.

Soltic H8 Round Facer 1/72 scale Takara 1981 Japan from anime tv show Fang of the Sun Dougram 1981-1983

The Soltic is a perfect example of a solid 80’s robot. Good design and quality, realistic in its look, a good portrayal of the robot in the anime, solid build, and diecast metal awesomeness. It is one of the reasons I love robots from this era. It was nice as they actually released Dougram robots in the USA and Japan. They were not that popular, as the anime was never released here or dubbed. But a lot of the models for Dougram were released by Revell as part of their Robotech line.

Soltic H8 Round Facer 1/72 scale Takara 1981 Japan from anime tv show Taiyou no Kiba Dougram(太陽の牙ダグラム) 1981-1983

Soltic H8 Round Facer 1/72 scale Takara 1981 Japan

Soltic H8 Round Facer Series-02 1/72 scale Takara 1981 Japan from anime tv show Fang of the Sun Dougram 1981-1983

Soltic H8 Round Facer Series-02 1/72 scale Takara 1981 Japan

Episode 1 of anime Fang of the Sun Dougram 1981-1983

Voltron is one of the robots that started it all for me. Where we fell in love with our big metal robots. The Golion DX as a Godaikin is the one my cousin Dave had. It came with a huge amount of accessories, like most DX Popy robots. Damn Matchbox for not providing Voltron with his sword. Voltron was all about his sword in the cartoon. Man, that is one terrible cartoon, ain’t it? And the dubs are terrible too. I wish I could unwatch those. Maybe if I watch them in Japanese they will be better. Hmmmm…

Matchbox Voltron III Defender of the Universe The Deluxe Lion Set

Anyway I have a lotta love for this robot. This robot has 5 lions that tranform into one of the best robots out there. Even the lions forms are excellent. I will have to pop him into robot form later for this post. This robot has been very popular over the years, so there have been a lot of releases. Lets see, Popy, Bandai America, Matchbox, Trendmasters, and now Toynami. I figure they will release it again within the next few years, so maybe I can try picking up a new one with all the accessories or even the Lionbot set made from the original molds(but vastly inferior paint applications!).

Matchbox Voltron III The Deluxe Lion Set from the anime Voltron: Defender of the Universe tv show from 1984-1985

Matchbox Voltron III The Deluxe Lion Set from the anime Voltron: Defender of the Universe tv show from 1984-1985.

See that styrofoam? Not a single accessory! The Popy and Godaikin versions had the full arsenal of missile launchers, daggers and a huge sword! I picked up Voltron III as an adult and I was really disappointed in the castrated Matchbox Voltron.

Matchbox Voltron III The Deluxe Lion Set from the anime Voltron: Defender of the Universe tv show from 1984-1985

I gotta admit there is a bit more violence in the Beast King GoLion, than in Voltron. The story works a little better and I am actually enjoying the first episode. Checkout the anime tv show from 1981-1982.

I don’t have any of the Takatoku Valkyries, but I cherish this Bandai VF-1A as it is my only Valkyrie from the 80’s. This is the Hikaru Ichijo Bandai VF-1A from the movie “Macross: Do You Remember Love?” in 1984. Bandai made this Valkyrie just after they bought the molds from the remains of Takatoku Toys. I love the big 80’s Chogokins with die cast metal. While it is not the 1/55 scale I covet, I like having both the ST and DX versions of a robot. Hopefully I will add the larger one soon. I consider the 1/100 scale ST’s and 1/55 scale as DX versions. It seems that the 1/100 scale Valkyries are harder to find than the 1/55 scale robots on the auction sites though, so I am glad to have any of them.

Bandai made some really solid Valkyries during that time in the 1980’s, like the Elintseeker or VT Trainer. The Valkyries themselves hold a special place in my heart. I only have two Toynami Masterpiece 1/55 Valkyries and one Bandai Valkyrie from 2002, but I really hope to add the original Takatoku and Bandai robots from the 80’s. They were the first robots that were amazing as jets and just as amazing as robots. Even 30 years later the quality, design and beauty of these pieces still shine. These are the must have robots of the 80’s.

Bandai Variable Fighter VF-1A Valkyrie 1984 from movie Macross: Do You Remember Love? 1984

Bandai Variable Fighter VF-1A Valkyrie 1984 from the movie Macross: Do You Remember Love? 1984

Bandai Variable Fighter VF-1A Valkyrie instructions and stickers from the movie 超時空要塞マクロス 愛・おぼえていますか 1984

Bandai Variable Fighter VF-1A Valkyrie 1984 from the movie Macross: Do You Remember Love? 1984

Computer Number 0302526

The DX Dancougar is a solid piece, but I can’t say I love this one. I got it without the box. I should have held out for a boxed copy(though maybe I never would have picked one up). I will have to change this into the large robot one day and redo some of these pictures as my old iPhone really does provide the detail I would like to see in these photos. I keep forgetting. This one is like Abegas, but the robots are a little better. The largest robot is a decent piece and they didn’t forget to make sure there was some diecast metal. Sorry, I hate cheap plastic robots. Probably should get around to the better pictures for each robot and as one large robot. ***

I plan to add the ST Dancougar to my collection, but I haven’t seen it for a while. I will have to keep an eye out for it.

Dancougar DX GoDaikin by Bandai 1985 aka Popy GC-30 from anime Dancougar Super Bestial Machine God

Here is the intro from the anime Chōjū Kishin Dancougar in 1985

Voltes V ST GoDaiKin aka Popy GA-80 1977 from anime Chōdenji Machine Voltes V(超電磁マシーン ボルテスV) 1977-1978

Voltes V is one of my favorite pieces. The ST version is a hefty piece of metal. It would be nice to have the DX counterpart but I don’t have the dough for that piece. My cousin has it, but it tilts a little bit from playful overuse. I am more picky about the pieces in my collection, but at least one of us have it. I picked up Voltes V on eBay. It comes with the sword and the chest piece becomes part of the sword.

Finally a robot based on anime. The anime was Super Electromagnetic Machine Voltes V. This cartoon was popular in the Philippines and translated to English. I definitely need to get around to seeing that version of the cartoon. When my cousin and I get together, we will need to do some binge tv watching.

I really enjoyed the anime for this robot, but I never finished it. The show was dark, mysterious, and much more serious than most of the anime. It felt like it was more aimed at adults than most robot anime I have watched. We got to the fourth season God Planet Quent and never got around to finishing it. It looks like they came up with a few follow series after that as well that never quite made it over.

Darn, moved my site to a brand new domain and broke all my images. Luckily, adding the images back is not as bad as I thought and I don’t have that many posts to fix. I didn’t really like these robots when they came out, but after watching the anime I came to appreciate them. I like the solid build and the detail is pretty good. Can’t say I love the pink. The cover art is a little redder, woulda been nice if the toy was too.

I just added some better images of the robot. I think I took the originals images in on my iPhone. That’s why they are so yellow. I’m thinking using a tripod will do wonders. I will probably come back and revisit these when I have more time. Looks like dusting may be needed. My cousin said Q-tips and water would do it.

The knees on these robots remind me of the  knees on the Clover’s Mobile Suit Gundam which is big and clunky as well. This is Fyana’s Brutishdog. If we ever did make combat suits, I really do think they would be more like these.

Here is the opening for the anime tv show Armored Trooper Votoms(装甲騎兵ボトムズ) from 1983-1984.

I watched these as rentals on VHS tapes and I enjoyed them. I saw them at the local library as DVDs as well, so you can purchase or borrow these. I have to see if they are on some of my Roku channels too. ***

Fyana’s Brutishdog ATM-09-GC booklet

Fyana’s Brutishdog ATM-09-GC

Fyana’s Brutishdog ATM-09-GC from anime tv show Armored Trooper Votoms(装甲騎兵ボトムズ) 1983-1984

Fyana’s Brutishdog ATM-09-GC

Fyana’s Brutishdog ATM-09-GC