Month: December 2014

So I have been looking for a gift to myself this year and I have decided on the Space Battleship Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 1/590 scale made by Taito. Sadly the wave motion gun does not light up. I found it on Amazon for $80 and it is pretty amazing. It is 45cm of ship from Taito(17.5 inches long!). No pictures yet(I finally got it March 3! I blame the West Coast port strike), as I am still waiting for it to ship to my house from Japan(Time frames are 30-50 days, does that sound right?). But it looks pretty amazing. I was not planning to get anything from this series, but just started(Finished, and it was frickin amazing) watching Space Battleship Yamato 2199 and started to look for something cool to pick up since I do not have anything from that series. I am trying to figure out how to watch Space Battleship Yamato Resurrection. I am having a hard time finding it anywhere. I watched the American version of the anime in the late 70’s as Star Blazers and I loved it. It was the best cartoon I had seen in my life up to that time. This is the reason I love anime and most likely robots as well. The Transformers and Robotech cartoons came out, then I was hooked.

Space Battleship Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 1/590 scale from 2009 is made by Taito. It is 45 cm or 17.5 inches

Thanks to Ourstarblazers.com(see more cool Star Blazers toys on that link) I found out this ship is one of the first toys that matches the specs on the ship from the anime exactly. The  computer generated graphics specifications can be used to generate  a solid real life version of what you see in the cartoon! That makes this particular piece pretty amazing. I wish the ship had the wings, but it really does not take away much on the ship. But honestly I just wanted the largest, nicest, cheapest version of the Argo(Yamato, whatever!)  I could find. Usually I really lean towards the die cast metal version(like the Nomura one in 1978 or the Soul of Chogokin BPX-01), but this Yamato really captures everything I love about the ship. The details are amazing. I love the moving turrets, gun barrels you can raise and lower, and the 3rd bridge hatch opens . It’s all plastic, but it’s a beautiful piece and I love it.

Thanks for checking out the site. I went from 768 page views last year which were mostly all me and my cousin, to 8,868 views so far this year and counting. Wishing you all a merry Christmas!

Space Battleship Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 1/590 scale from 2009 is made by Taito. It is 45 cm or 17.71 inches

Shock Cannons Taito Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 1590 scale 2009 45 cm

Taito Yamato Hangar Deck & Pulse Lasers 2220 Super Mechanics 1/590 scale 2009 45 cm

Wave Motion Gun (波動砲 hadō hō) Taito Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 1/590 scale 2009 45 cm

Pulse Lasers Taito Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 1/590 2009 45 cm

Wave Motion Engine Taito Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 1/590 scale 2009 45 cm

Wave Motion Engine Rear View Taito Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 2009

Space Battleship Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 1/590 scale 2009 45 cm by Taito

Cannons, Pulse Lasers and Bridge – Taito Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 1/590 2009 45 cm

Space Battleship Yamato 2220 Super Mechanics 1/590 scale from 2009 is made by Taito. It is 45 cm

This picture give you a little more perspective on how big it is. Leave some comments if you think it is as amazing as I do…

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.

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

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

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

Soul of Chogokin Danguard A GX-62 Bandai 2013

Here are some new additions to Dave’s Collection. The Soul of Chogokin UFO Robo Grendizer GX-04 came out way back in 2000. The first one we both had was the Combatler V. Dave found this and a few others in his last trip to Japan in Akihabara. While not as large as we usually like our robots, the Soul of Chogokin makes up for it is superior poseability, actual die cast metal and awesome robot goodness from the 70’s. Grendizer hales  from the anime  UFO Robo Grandizer from 1975 to 1976 which we never got to see here in the US.

UFO Robo Grendizer GX-04 Bandai Grandizer Soul of Chogokin 2000 from anime UFO Robo Grandizer from 1975 to 1976

Grendizer is one of the few must have robots for us as he was one of the classic super robots that came over as Shogun Warriors. The Shogun Warriors hold a special place in our hearts. While it is not a monolithic chunk of die cast goodness as the original, the articulation makes it more fun and it is more true representation of the robot from the actual cartoon.

UFO Robo Grandizer GX-04 Bandai Soul of Chogokin 2000 from anime Yûfô robo Gurendaizâ from 1975 to 1976

We will likely never have the original as neither of us wants to fork out the $300-$600 it would take to get the original, but this is an great alternative. After watching an episode on Youtube I realized this was an anime series by Go Nagai. It is part of the same universe that includes Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger.  I always see the original 70’s toys from France and Italy in European packaging on eBay. I appears Grendizer was popular there as well as Goldorak in France and Goldrake in Italy.

UFO Robo Grendizer GX-04 Bandai Soul of Chogokin 2000 from anime UFO Robo Grandizer ＵＦＯロボグレンダイザー from 1975 to 1976

Tornado Number is from Polyfect Toys. It is another dollar store find. It appears to be a knockoff of a series that never made it over to the US. Granbird  from the anime  Brave Fighter Sun of Great Fighbird back in 1991-1992 came right after Transformers Generation 1 ended. I am not a fan of the Brave Series robots design wise. Takara made some robots for this in DX deluxe or STD standard versions. A lot of the robots from the series are recycled and modified from the Transformers cartoon.

Sorry, I won’t be putting up any images of this in robot mode as I will not be adding it to my collection. But the quality and build looks better than most robot knockoffs I have seen. If I actually liked the robot it would be on display now. It may be cheaply made, but it does not look cheap. They are fun additions to the site, so I will put them up on my site until they stop making them.

Polyfect Tornadonumber

Polyfect Toys makes a number of knockoff toys or KO for short, but the quality is much better than I would have thought initially based on Construction the Devastator KO I picked up from them. Even if they do not last, $5.99 for a cheap plastic robot will not break the bank for a nice little display robot.

Polyfect Tornado Number

I put an image of the Takara Granbird below. Look familiar?

Yuusha The Brave Fighter Of Sun Fighbird DX Granbird Takara 1991

Polyfect Tornadonumber Tornado Number