Tag: anime

Zaku MS-06S Polystone Collection Bandai 2001

Zaku MS-06S Vol. 1 Bandai 2001 Polystone Collection Scene G-3

Zaku MS-06S Vol. 1 Bandai 2001 Polystone Collection Scene G-3

The Bandai Polystone Collection covers various properties like Godzillla, Gundam, Kamen Rider, and Naruto. They are miniature sculpted dioramas that are 3 3/4 by 2 3/4 inches. My personal favorites were the Godzilla dioramas. I may have to pick up  a few eventually. I picked this up in the early 2000’s when all things Gundam were harder to come by. It was one of the few Gundam items I had to display. Not long after all the Gundam anime came out on Cartoon Network and I could pick up Gundam robots at all the local stores.

Zaku MS-06S Vol. 1 Bandai 2001 Polystone Collection Scene G-3

Zaku MS-06S Vol. 1 Bandai 2001 Polystone Collection Scene G-3


 
 

VF-1J ST Battroid Valkyrie 1/100 scale Takatoku 1983

Macross VF-1J ST 1/100 scale Hikaru Ichijyo (一条 輝 Ichijō Hikaru)- Takatoku Toys(タカトクトイス) 1983 from anime Super Dimension Fortress Macross( 超時空要塞マクロス or Chōjikū Yōsai Makurosu) VF-1J ST

Macross VF-1J ST 1/100 scale Hikaru Battroid Valkyrie by Takatoku Toys 1983 from anime Super Dimension Fortress Macross( 超時空要塞マクロス)

The Takatoku 1/100 scale Valkyries as a whole are a lot harder to come by than the 1/55 scale version. Except for the Hikaru VF-1J ST. This appears to be the only one that keeps coming up on the sites I usually buy from. I hope to add a few more of these to my collection next year. This is actually my first Takatoku Valkyrie. I actually added the brown cannon fodder 1/55 scale this year as well from David’s trip to Japan. Before this I only had the 1984 Bandai VF-1A, so it is nice to have one of the original Takatoku toys that started it all. I consider the these the gold standard of  robots from the 1980’s.

The toy captures the robots from the anime in great detail. The VF-1J looks fantastic both as a robot and a plane! The toy is solid with a great design and fun to transform. Normally when the robot looks good the form suffers. But  this is definitely not in this case.  The Valkyries easily outclass any transforming robots from the 1980’s with their perfect transformations(kanzen henkei). Plus it helps that the anime was one of the better ones to watch in 80’s. I like this particular color scheme as I can imagine an actual combat jet with these colors.

Macross VF-1J ST 1/100 scale front of box Hikaru Ichijyo (一条 輝 Ichijō Hikaru)- Takatoku Toys(タカトクトイス) 1983 from anime Super Dimension Fortress Macross( 超時空要塞マクロス or Chōjikū Yōsai Makurosu)

Macross VF-1J ST 1/100 scale Ichijō Hikaru Battroid Valkyrie by Takatoku Toys 1983 from anime Chōjikū Yōsai Makurosu( 超時空要塞マクロス)

Macross VF-1J ST 1/100 scale back of box Hikaru Ichijyo (一条 輝 Ichijō Hikaru)- Takatoku Toys(タカトクトイス) 1983 from anime Super Dimension Fortress Macross( 超時空要塞マクロス or Chōjikū Yōsai Makurosu) VF-1J ST

Macross VF-1J ST 1/100 scale Hikaru Ichijyo Battroid Valkyrie by Takatoku Toys 1983 from anime Choujikuu Yousai Macross( 超時空要塞マクロス)


 

Popy GC-22 Bismarck DX 1985

Popy GC-22 Bismarck DX 1985 from anime Sei Juushi Bismarck(星銃士 ビスマルク) 1984-1985 Star Musketeer Bismarck

Popy GC-22 Bismarck DX 1985 from anime Seijuushi Bismarck 1984-1985

So this is my Bismarck DX. I just picked it up this year. Dave got his back in the mid 80’s in Japan. It is one of the last branded Popy Chogokin super robots before Popy was reabsorbed into Bandai. The anime cartoon Sei Juushi Bismarck is a cowboy western, sci-fi frontier setting, with a super robot from 1984-1985. You may know it here as Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs from World Event Productions the same people who brought over Voltron. The ship turns into wings for the robot and you an insert the robot into the ship or you can say it transforms into a ship.

It is a nice heavy 9 inch diecast metal robot with a black and white theme, which is a welcome change  from the red, white and blue sentai robots. It was not one of the must have robots from the 80’s for me, but it is a nice addition.

Popy GC-22 Bismarck DX 1985 from anime Seijuushi Bismarck(星銃士 ビスマルク) 1984-1985 Star Musketeer Bismark

Popy GC-22 Bismarck DX & Space Cruiser 1985 from anime Seijuushi Bismarck(星銃士 ビスマルク) 1984-1985 Star Saber and the Star Sheriffs

I have the Space Cruiser, but sadly no missiles or tank treads either. I also am missing Bismarck’s pistol. I never really cared for the cruiser converting to wings on Bismarck. The cruiser itself is a nice piece.

Popy GC-22 Bismark Space Cruiser DX 1985 from anime Seijuushi Bismarck(星銃士 ビスマルク) 1984-1985 Star Musketeer Bismarck

Popy GC-22 Bismarck Space Crueser 1985 from anime Seijuushi Bismarck(星銃士 ビスマルク) 1984-1985 Star Saber and the Star Sheriffs

Popy GC-22 Bismarck DX 1985 Standing Back Side from anime Seijuushi Bismarck(星銃士 ビスマルク) 1984-1985 Star Musketeer Bismarck

Popy GC-22 Bismark 1985 from anime Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs 1984-1985

Check out the absolutely solid metal construction on the legs and chest giving it a solid heft.

Popy Bismarck DX GC-22 1985 chest detail from anime Seijuushi Bismarck(星銃士 ビスマルク) 1984-1985 Star Musketeer Bismarck

Popy GC-22 Bismarck DX 1985 from anime Star Musketeer Bismarck(星銃士 ビスマルク) 1984-1985

Popy Bismarck DX GC-22 1985 robot figure from anime Seijuushi Bismarck(星銃士 ビスマルク) 1984-1985 Star Musketeer Bismarck

Popy Bismarck DX GC-22 1985

Popy Bismarck DX GC-22 1985 chest detail from anime Seijuushi Bismarck(星銃士 ビスマルク) 1984-1985 Star Musketeer Bismarck

Popy Bismarck DX GC-22 1985 from anime Star Musketeer Bismarck


Here is the intro for the anime Seijuushi Bismarck 1984-1985. It kinda reminds me of a cowboy anime version of the Super Sentai series. The uniforms have a Power Ranger look to them.

Gyakuten-oh ST Takatoku Toys 1982 Z-Gokin

Gyakutenoh ST Takatoku Toys 1982 Z-Gokin Gyakuten-oh front-side of box from the anime series Gyakuten! Ippatsuman (逆転!イッパツマン) from 1982-1983

Gyakutenoh ST Takatoku Toys 1982 Z-Gokin Gyakuten-oh from the anime series Gyakuten! Ippatsuman (逆転!イッパツマン) from 1982-1983

Here is the Gyakuten-oh by Takatoku Toys in 1982. It is one of the standard size Z-Gokin from the anime series Gyakuten! Ippatsuman (逆転!イッパツマン) in 1982-1983. It is an old fashioned 80’s super robot with huge amount of die cast metal goodness. It’s built like a brick with arms and a head. The fists shoot using the red fins off the arms. It comes with 3 red missiles which can be shot from the arm where the fists are now. Gyakutenoh comes with a ridiculously large sword(but I just love it!) and one of the nicer shields I have seen on a robot. It reminds me of a Vikings shield as it is oval shaped with 4 spikes coming out of the shield. The head of the robot itself looks like a Viking(think Odin) or maybe a samurai helmet. Either it is a good looking robot.

Looking at this robot reminds me a little bit of Gaiking. The chest looks like there is a golden skull and the head has two large golden horns coming out of it.  It reminds me of a shorter thicker Gaiking. The robot is 5” ½, about the size of my standard sized Getter Robo robots. The arms, chest plate and head are plastic. But the legs and body are solid metal. If you toss this at someone, you can hurt them with this thing! You can attach red booster rockets to the back of the robot so it can fly(just kidding). The arms rotate at the shoulder and the legs bend at the hip. Other than that, there is no articulation on this bad boy. The head wiggles a little bit, but no actual rotation. Despite the fact that this robot does almost nothing, I love the design and look of it.

I caught a bit of the first episode on the link below and had a few chuckles. Here is the first episode of Gyakuten! Ippatsuman. Looks like the person who put these up has all 58 episodes if you want to binge watch the show.

Gyakutenoh ST Takatoku Toys 1982 Z-Gokin Gyakuten-oh back-side of box from the anime series Gyakuten! Ippatsuman (逆転!イッパツマン) from 1982-1983

Gyakutenoh ST Takatoku Toys 1982 Z-Gokin Gyakuten-oh from the anime series Gyakuten! Ippatsuman (逆転!イッパツマン) from 1982-1983



Aura Battler Billbine 1/46 scale SF Fantasy Figure

So this is my first post in a while. I have been meaning to put up some of my new robots. Here is a new one from my cousin’s trip to Japan.

Aura Battler Billbine 1/46 scale SF Fantasy Figure KO Knockoff from anime Seisenshi Dunbine 1983-1984 Front of Box

Aura Battler Billbine 1/46 scale SF Fantasy Figure from anime Seisenshi Dunbine 1983-1984

My cousin found this Aura Battler Billbine in a Mandarake in Akihabara. I was surprised it was only 1,080 yen(about $10 ) for an 80’s die cast metal robot. When I got it, I realized it may be a knock off. I was looking for the little Clover leaf emblem like I see on my other Aura Battler robots. But I did not see one. See the box on the bottom right? Usually the ST icon is there. The Aura Battler Dunbine robots were the last toys made by Clover. I have read conflicting reports that this Billbine may have had the molds created by Clover, then manufactured by Tomy who picked up their licenses when they folded. The box looks a lot like the Clover boxes for Aura Battler Dunbine robots. The ST icon is a Japanese safety standard not required on exported toys. So this is likely a Tomy toy made for export, as the box was unbranded/unmarked with English instructions,  but the box and robot markings indicate it was made in Japan. So yay! I have a Tomy produced Billbine.

Aura Battler Billbine 1/46 scale SF Fantasy Figure KO Knockoff bottom of Box from anime Seisenshi Dunbine 1983-1984

Aura Battler Billbine 1/46 scale SF Fantasy Figure from anime Seisenshi Dunbine 1983-1984

Even if this is a bootleg, it is solid/decent die cast metal robot. Nothing about it wows me, but Clover robots rarely do. I am guessing it was probably made in the same factory as mold seems pretty solid for this robot. I do not care for the color scheme (white, red and yellow plastic with some metallic metal stickers). The legs, arms, wings, and head are plastic. But the body is mostly metal. It would have looked a lot better if the robot was bluish gray as it shows on the images in the back and box art instead of the white plastic and paint application. The hands have big bird claws on the end, but they remind me of Wolverine’s claws from the X-Men.

Aura Battler Billbine 1/46 scale SF Fantasy Figure KO Knockoff Right side of Box from anime Seisenshi Dunbine 1983-1984

Aura Battler Billbine 1/46 scale SF Fantasy Figure from anime Seisenshi Dunbine 1983-1984

It’s interesting how much time they spent on wrapping this. That is a lot of time to spend on a $10 robot. I am trying to figure out if they did this to protect the packaging from water or for some other reason. After spending some time with the box, it is pretty musty. I am starting to understand why it is under wraps. As with most of the Clover robots, the box art and images are one of the nicest parts of the toy sadly enough.

Aura Battler Billbine 1/46 scale SF Fantasy Figure KO Knockoff Left side of Box from anime Seisenshi Dunbine 1983-1984

Aura Battler Billbine 1/46 scale SF Fantasy Figure from anime Seisenshi Dunbine 1983-1984

 

 

Aura Battler Billbine 1/46 scale SF Fantasy Figure KO Knockoff Back side of Box from anime Seisenshi Dunbine 1983-1984

Aura Battler Billbine 1/46 scale SF Fantasy Figure from anime Seisenshi Dunbine 1983-1984

The toy comes as a robot and transforms into as some kind of flying bird form. The bird form reminds me a bit of the Brave Raideen’s transformation. The feet can be squeezed together to resemble bird feet.  The wings on the back actually provide the largest range of motion and I think this is my favorite part of the robot. I was able to pose the robot with various wing configurations. The robot comes with 2 cannons you can mount on the back or put in his hands. It comes with 3 orange yellow missiles. The sword on the box illustrations is nowhere to be found though. It would be nice to pop one of those into Billbine’s hands. The robot itself barely moves or has any articulation,  but the knees and hips rotate.

I will put out some pictures from the robot itself when I get the time…

Aura Battler Billbine 1/46 scale SF Fantasy Figure KO Knockoff front angle of robot from anime Seisenshi Dunbine 1983-1984

Aura Battler Billbine 1/46 scale SF Fantasy Figure from anime Seisenshi Dunbine 1983-1984

About 10-15 years ago I picked up a few cheap Aura Battler Dunbine robots when I really did not know much about robots. Mostly I was just curious as I had never seen them before. These were not robots I wanted when I was young(like the Macross and Transformers robots), so I picked up a few for fun. None of them were amazing and I really didn’t care too much about them until I learned more about the history of them and the company that made them.

Clover made a few cool robots like the Daitarn, Zambot III, Daioja and the first Gundam robots. So having these robots now is a little bit of history. So even if I cannot pick up the Clover DX Gundam’s anytime soon, the Dunbine robots will do for now.

I found the first episode of Aura Battler Dunbine on YouTube which is kind of a kick. I did not think they ported it over to English. Go figure.

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!



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



Soul of Chogokin Danguard A GX-62 Bandai 2013

Danguard Ace is another anime Super Robot that came to us with the Shogun Warriors. Dangard was one of the earlier Super Robots. The anime came out way back in 1977. I never had this one as a kid. Here is my Soul of Chogokin Danguard A that I picked up on my trip to Japan this year. I picked this up at a pretty good price and I am really happy I have this in my collection.

 

Soul of Chogokin Danguard A Ace GX-62 Bandai 2013 from anime Danguard Ace, Il robot planetario Danguard Ace (Italian), Wakusei Robo Danguard Ace 惑星ロボダンガードA (Japanese)

Danguard A Ace GX-62 Bandai Soul of Chogokin 2013 from anime Planet Robot Danguard Ace 1977-1978

 

Danguard A Ace GX-62 Bandai Soul of Chogokin 2013 back of box from anime Danguard Ace, Il robot planetario Danguard Ace (Italian), Wakusei Robo Danguard Ace 惑星ロボダンガードA (Japanese)

Soul of Chogokin – Danguard A Ace GX-62 Bandai2013 from anime Wakusei Robo Danguard Ace 惑星ロボダンガードA 1977-1978

Soul of Chogokin Danguard A Ace GX-62 Accessories Bandai 2013 from anime Danguard Ace, Il robot planetario Danguard Ace (Italian), Wakusei Robo Danguard Ace 惑星ロボダンガードA (Japanese)

Danguard Ace GX-62 Bandai Soul of Chogokin 2013 from anime Danguard Ace

 

Danguard A Ace GX-62 Bandai Soul of Chogokin 2013 inside styrofoam from anime Danguard Ace, Il robot planetario Danguard Ace (Italian), Wakusei Robo Danguard Ace 惑星ロボダンガードA (Japanese)

Soul of Chogokin Danguard A GX-62 Bandai 2013

Reideen the Brave GX-41 Bandai Soul of Chogokin 2008

Raydeen was another of my favorite robots from the 70’s Shogun Warriors.  I read the old Marvel Comic book, but its another one where we never saw the anime here. There was no Force Five dub on this one we could watch here. We didn’t have options like Youtube or Crunchyroll to get our anime fix, but with a little imagination and a cool metal robot we were good to go. Here is the Soul of Chogokin Reideen the Brave GX-41.  I put him next to the old 5″ Mattel Shogun Warrior Raydeen from 1979 as a point of comparison.

 

Reideen the Brave GX-41 Bandai Soul of Chogokin 2008 Raydeen Raideen front of box from anime Brave Raideen, Reideen the Brave, 勇者ライディーン Yuusha Raideen from 1975 to 1976

Reideen the Brave GX-41 Bandai Soul of Chogokin 2008 from anime Brave Raideen from 1975 to 1976

Dave added this one in Akhibara. Comparing it against the old Shogun Warriors 5 inch, I can see it is a real improvement. He looks like a pharoah from hieroglyphs. Not sure why there are so many variations on his name, I have seen it as Raydeen, Raideen or Reideen. The Soul of Chogokin version is better by far. He bears a much better resemblance to his anime version and as always the articulation and poseability are amazing in comparison.  But the old Shogun Warrior holds a special place in my heart. That being said, I can’t wait till I have one of these as well.

 

Reideen the Brave GX-41 Bandai Soul of Chogokin 2008 Raydeen Raideen back of box from anime Brave Raideen, Reideen the Brave, 勇者ライディーン Yuusha Raideen from 1975 to 1976

Reideen the Brave GX-41 Bandai Soul of Chogokin 2008 from anime 勇者ライディーン Yuusha Raideen from 1975 to 1976



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