Month: August 2014

Yamato Shin Getter Robo Days of Apocalypse – Repaint Version 2004

So I bought the Yamato Shin Getter Robo Repaint in San Francisco in the early 2000’s. I am thinking 2004 since the anime for Getter Robo: Armageddon/Shin Getter Robo came out then. I don’t see much info on it out there, so I don’t know when it came out. I may need to run a search in Japanese to find out more.

You can’t tell by looking at it, but it is a big piece. I like to think of it as a Mini Machinder as it is a big vinyl Japanese robot. If you check out the back image of the box you can see it comes with a humongous axe!  The pole on the axe is like 15 inches long and with the Tomahawk blade  it is 20 which is awesome. The robot runs about 12 inches tall. Shin Getter 1 Robo is a pretty nice looking robot and the wings are really a nice touch. I almost think they are there to help Shin Getter stand. The wings remind me of an dragon, the wings on Great Mazinga or Mazinkaiser.

It’s a good looking revamp of the old anime robots from Getter Robo. I like the deep blue color, more than the red one you usually see on this robot.  I will have to check the anime on it as I was a fan of the old anime. I am afraid I only bought this because it was cheap($29.99!), but the anime sounds interesting as it supposedly goes in a more serious, darker path than the original anime.

This robot was made by Yamato/Toycom. I don’t have many robots by Yamato. I think I only have two. It’s hard to tell when the writing is all in Japanese. Oddly enough, I never opened this one.

 

Shin Getter Robo Days of Apocalypse by Yamato - Repaint Version box front 2 from anime やまと チェンジ!! 真ゲッターロボ 世界最後の日 2004

Yamato Shin Getter Robo Days of Apocalypse – Repaint Version 2004

Shin Getter Robo Days of Apocalypse Yamato - Repaint Version back of box from anime 新ゲッターロボ 2004

Shin Getter Robo Days of Apocalypse Yamato – Repaint Version 2004

Shin Getter Robo Days of Apocalypse by Yamato - Repaint Version box front from anime 真ゲッターロボ「世界最後の日」 2004

Yamato Shin Getter Robo Days of Apocalypse – Repaint Version 2004

Aura Battler Dunbine 1983 Clover 1/86 Scale

 

The Clover Dunbine rears its head one last time. This one is a bit smaller. The 1/86 scale Dunbine appears to be a much smaller ST version and the  1/46 scale is likely the DX size of this robot. The figure is much smaller with a lot less detail than the 1/46 scale. It reminds me a bit of the 1/100 scale Giant Gorg I had. It is a small clunky robot with very little detail and was a disappointment that had a surprising amount of die cast metal. Sadly, the robot is poorly conceived, negligible articulation, and robot size is a bit small. I think it would have made more sense to make the 1/46 scale an ST model and a slightly larger model the DX version.

For me, the packaging is my favorite part of this toy. It is a great box and the cover art eclipses the toy itself easily. It’s sad when the best thing you can say about a robot is that it has a nice box. In fact the robot looks quite a bit better on the back of the box than it does in real life. Anyway, the fact that this is the last hurrah for Clover before they went out of business is telling.

Aura Battler Dunbine 1983 Clover 1/86 Scale front of the box from anime Seisenshi Dunbine(聖戦士ダンバイン) 1983-1984

Aura Battler Dunbine 1983 Clover 1/86 Scale

Aura Battler Dunbine 1983 Clover 1/86 Scale back of the box from anime Holy Warrior Dunbine 1983-1984 Seisenshi Dunbine(聖戦士ダンバイン)

Aura Battler Dunbine 1983 Clover 1/86 Scale

Aura Battler Dunbine 1983 Clover 1/86 Scale styrofoam insert from anime Holy Warrior Dunbine 1983-1984 Seisenshi Dunbine 聖戦士ダンバイン

Aura Battler Dunbine 1983 Clover 1/86 Scale styrofoam insert from anime Holy Warrior Dunbine 1983-1984


Giant Gorg DX 1984 Takara 1/48 Scale

 

Here is the Giant Gorg DX. The DX robot is actually pretty rare. I hardly ever see this one listed for sale. I bid a few times on this one in a few auctions and it was long time before I ever saw it listed again.

Since it was not the most popular anime, I am thinking this piece came out in limited distribution. I actually watched a few episodes and it was pretty solid. I found review of it online here so I may get around to watching the whole series later. It’s about a boy who makes friends with a big blue robot in the South Pacific on mysterious Austral Island. A large international corporation GAIL pursues them as they search for treasure on the island.

Big Blue is pretty cool. It does not transform, but I really like the idea of a big blue robot aside from Tetsjujin 28. The DX version is so much better than the ST version I have. This ST robot is really disappointing based on the ST versions from Popy which came out at the same time which seem superior to DX versions in many cases. The proportions, detail and, quality really show on this piece. It really makes me wonder if the same company made both of them. Articulation kinda sucks on Gorg, but I really don’t expect much on robots from the 80’s. I just want a good looking robot with die cast metal. Based on what I see. The Giant Gorg DX has it all.

Giant Gorg DX 1984 Takara 1-48 scale styrofoam insert from anime Kyoshin Gorg(巨神ゴーグ) 1984

Giant Gorg DX 1984 Takara from anime Giant Gorg(巨神ゴーグ Kyoshin Gorg?) 1984 1/48 scale

Giant Gorg DX 1984 Takara 1-48 scale front box from anime Kyoshin Gorg(巨神ゴーグ) 1984

Giant Gorg DX 1984 Takara 1/48 scale from anime Kyoshin Gorg(巨神ゴーグ) 1984