Month: June 2014

Here’s Dancougar – another one from the Godaikin collection.  Checking the back foot, I see this one was made in 1985.  This was another one I never had. Looking at the old price tag from Kaybee, I see the original price was 44.99 and then was marked down to 24.99. Man, I never saw this at a Toys R Us or Kaybee let alone marked down! Anyway, I briefly borrowed my cousin’s Gigabrain plastic re-issue from the 1987 anime and that one looks better as a robot but it’s not a combiner and it’s all plastic.  I got this Dancougar Godaikin at a really good price – 170 dollars! Whenever I do see this piece, it’s been about 300-400 dollars.  It’s missing the gun, however.

Watch out for Aura Battler Dunbine, the insect mecha! Friend of your friendly neighborhood Insecticon. Just kidding. These are kick ass robots of the Middle Ages from a dimension far, far away. It’s a land of knights with horses, castles, fairies, and robots with flying transport planes. Really? If you can build robots and planes, why would you still be riding horses? I guess you really have to suspend your disbelief on this one. Still I like the idea, no matter how far fetched it sounds. For me robots are like bacon, they make everything better. Check out the video below if you want to check it out.

Here is Dunbine. He looks nothing like his anime image. Clover could have done a much better job with this robot. They did not last long as a company after this line came out. The image reminds me of the Guyver from the manga series. It would be a cool robot if it looked anything like the Guyver. Still, it is a cool 80’s robot for what it is. Clover loves making clunky heavy die cast metal robots and I love those super alloy Chogokin robots(though this is a wanna be Chogokin). Most Clover robots have a nice heft to them. Dunbine has what looks like an arrow/antennae coming out of the middle of his head and wings.  It’s not pretty, but it is a nice little robot to have in my collection. They are fun as I really do not have any other pieces quite like it in my collection.

Here is the opening of the episode of the anime Seisenshi Dunbine from 1983-1984.

Dunbine by Clover 1/46 scale 1983 Japan from anime Aura Battler Dunbine 1983-1984

Dunbine by Clover 1/46 scale 1983 Japan from anime Aura Battler Dunbine 1983-1984

Dunbine by Clover 1/46 scale 1983 Japan from anime Aura Battler Dunbine 1983-1984

Dunbine by Clover 1/46 scale 1983 Japan from anime Aura Battler Dunbine 1983-1984

Dunbine by Clover 1983 Japan

Winner Herds Super Power Modern Design

Optimus Prime Rules all over the world! You can tell as they have clones of Transformers in most countries. This is the second Transformers clone I have see in Europe and an Optimus Prime mask as well. Winner Herds by Easy Toys reminds me of the Playskool Rescue Bots version of Optimus. It is actually pretty cool. But I would not pay that 16.50 euros, but  I would add it to my Transformers collection. Europe is expensive in general.

Winner Herds Super Power Modern Design

The toy line name makes no sense. Winner Herds? Yes, that is really the name. I am thinking more Winner Heros. What a terrible name. These are not animals, they are robots! “As a team we can accomplish anything.”, is the cheesy slogan. Why not as a herd we can accomplish anything? Oh well go figure. They probably did not expect to be in business long putting out Transformers knockoffs.

Winner Herds Super Power Modern Design

RoadBot Hummer H2 SUV No. 10 1/18 scale 2009 by Aoshima

This robot is big. 11 inches tall BIG. The RoadBot line name is about as generic a name as it comes. I am surprised there is no Transformers Hummer, but this one is interesting. It kinda reminds me of a Transformers Alternator, but bigger and not as well designed. It is a cool idea though.

Atosa the toy maker appears to be a small toy company is Spain and they have a line of robots on their site. Looks like they are just the European distributor of RoadBot. You can see their active line of robots here. They made it easy for me as the site is in English. I found this robot in a small dollar store in Burgos Spain.Thought it was pretty expensive at 29.90 euros.

I did some research and found this originally came out as the RoadBot No. 10 from Aoshima Bunka Kyozei produced by Happy Well in 2009.  They have 10 other robots in this line which are actually pretty cool. This line would give Transformers a run for their money if they had a decent cartoon to help market the line. You can see them here. The Toyota Celica and Mitsubishi Lancer are my favorite. The site is in Japanese, so use use your favorite translating site. This robot line is pretty rare as I hardly ever see them in Ebay and it looks like it has been discontinued.

Road Bot No. 10 Hummer H2 SUV 1/18 scale 2009 by Aoshima

Sorry the pictures suck, I was in a hurry and I really did not plan to pick it up.  I just found it amusing. The robots represent part of my European robot tour as small and insignificant as it was.  Wish I could have seen a vintage Italian toy store as they really like their old 80’s super robots there!

Road Bot No. 10 Hummer H2 SUV 1/18 scale 2009 by Aoshima Happy Well – image courtesy of aoshima-bk.co.jp