Author: Con

The MachineRobo MR-10 Fire Robo is one of my favorite Machine Robos. It is one of the most simple designs, simple transformations, the straight lines, with a red and silver color scheme and make a simple looking robot. There really is nothing special about this robot. But who doesn’t like a fire engine? I wanted to be a fireman when I was younger and I have always loved fire trucks since I was a kid. So this particular robot has a special place in my heart.  This is a cool little robot in a line of cool robots from Popy. The only criticism I have is the gun seems like such an afterthought. In the robots hand or even on the ladders seems a bit lame. It is just too small. Using the ladder as a weapon/gun seems just as bad as well based on what I see on the Tonka packaging.

It’s too bad the Gobots cartoon was so bad. I have never been able to force myself to watch a whole episode. I wouldn’t mind a reintroduction of the Gobots in a modernized revamp(like they did with other 80’s franchises like V and Battlestar Galactica(maybe they can make a Gobots movie since Transformers has made so much money!)). Since Hasbro owns the rights when they picked up Tonka, it would be awesome if they brought them back in a stand alone series instead of part of the Transformers. So Fire Robo did some time as Pumper in  Challenge of the Gobots back in 1983-1987.

More Machine Robos to come. They keep on coming. This is number 4? It’s because I have 25-30 of these robots. Sorry you are going to see more posts about these for a while. I found the box I stored them in so I will keep pumping out posts about these till I get bored or I am all done.

MachineRobo(マシンロボ) MR-10 Fire Robo (ファイヤーロボ) 1982 Popy Bandai robot front Machine Men from anime Machine Robo Revenge of Cronos(Chronos no Gyakushuu マシンロボ クロノスの大逆襲) 1988-1989 and Challenge of the Gobots 1983-1987 aka Pumper

MR-10 Fire Robo 1982 Popy aka Pumper

MachineRobo MR-10 Fire Robo aka Pumper 1982 Popy Bandai Fire Engine/Fire Truck Vehicle Form

MachineRobo MR-10 Fire Robo aka Pumper 1982 Popy Bandai

MachineRobo MR-10 Fire Robo Pumper 1982 Popy/Bandai

MachineRobo(マシンロボ) MR-10 Fire Robo (ファイヤーロボ) 1982 Popy Bandai from anime Machine Robo Revenge of Cronos(Chronos no Gyakushuu マシンロボ クロノスの大逆襲) 1988-1989 and Challenge of the Gobots 1983-1987 aka Pumper

Looks like a new set of Transformers is available online. The Transformers Generations Combiner Wars Superion Collection Pack I found on the sites for Target, Toys R’ Us, K Mart, Walmart, you name it. I haven’t seen it at any stores, but it looks pretty cool. Based on what I have read, they are sporting the Generation 2 colors. I will put up some pictures once I see it in the stores. Its nice you can pick up the whole set of Aerialbots in one fell swoop. Based on the pictures, it looks pretty badass combined but ok as individual robots.

Here is the MachineRobo MR-02 Battle Robo by Popy in 1982. I am on a roll. 2 posts in 2 days, WOO HOO! Anyway this is some sort of futuristic tank. In fact this robot is named Tank in the Challenge of the GoBots. One of Cy-Kill’s evil dumb henchmen. I don’t get it, how can a robot be stupid? Bad AI software, low processing speeds maybe?

I like the aesthetics of the tank and the robot, but I imagine it is a pretty high profile for a tank though. I noticed I was missing the smaller guns that are supposed to come out of the front of the tank, which kinda sucks.  The Styrofoam was not meant for this little bugger, so the arms will not hold in place when transformed. The colors are nice, even though I have never seen a blue army tank in real life. I guess  I should not look for any realism in children’s toys, but there is always hope. The transformation is as easy as it gets. You fold the head over so he is kissing his feet and put in the guns and the turret. This is another cool robot from the Machine Robo line.

MachineRobo(マシンロボ) MR-02 Battle Robo 1982 Popy/Bandai from anime Machine Robo Revenge of Cronos 1988-1989 and Challenge of the Gobots 1983-1987 aka Tank

MachineRobo(マシンロボ) MR-02 Battle Robo 1982 Popy/Bandai from anime Machine Robo Revenge of Cronos 1988-1989 and Challenge of the Gobots 1983-1987 aka Tank

MachineRobo MR-02 Battle Robo(バトルロボ) 1982 Popy/Bandai from anime Machine Robo Revenge of Cronos 1988-1989 and Challenge of the Gobots 1983-1987 aka Tank

MachineRobo MR-02 Battle Robo 1982 Popy/Bandai from anime Machine Robo Revenge of Cronos 1988-1989 and Challenge of the Gobots 1983-1987 aka Tank

MachineRobo MR-02 Battle Robo 1982 Popy/Bandai from anime Machine Robo Revenge of Cronos 1988-1989 and Challenge of the Gobots 1983-1987 aka Tank

MachineRobo MR-02 Tank Battle Robo 1982 Popy Bandai Machine Robo box side 2

I have been meaning to put up my each of my Machine Robo since putting up a bulk post about them a couple of years ago. This is the MachineRobo MR-01 Bike Robo, the robot who became Cy-Kill in Tonka’s Challenge of the Gobots in 1983. The cartoon was not as compelling as the story of the Transformers. For me the story was pretty much crap. Which is sad, because the 3 inch robots in this line were superior to any of the small robots in the early Transformers line. It would have been nice to see another robot cartoon that gave the Transformers a run for its money in the eighties. I really wanted to like the cartoon, but it was unwatchable for me. Which is odd, because I was able to watch a lot of the crap Hanna Barbera put out. And I loved it. There also was an anime in Japan, Machine Robo Revenge of Cronos came out several years later 1988-1989 and showed the robots as human piloted mecha. I watched a little and it reminded me a bit of the Getta Robo anime.

These originally came out in 1982 in Japan as part of Popy’s  Machine Robo line. Europe had them as Robo Machine and Australia had Machine Men. It’s a great concept. Matchbox sized vehicles that transform into robots.

Machine Robo MachineRobo MR-01 Cy-Kill 1982 Popy Japan Robot

I absolutely love the packaging for this toyline. Small boxes, robots in small Styrofoam cases, with tiny accessories, stickers, a catalog of other robots in the line, and a comic with instructions to transform the robot. I just picked this up in December. The Bike Robo tends to be a more expensive piece. At least more than I would like to pay. This may be due to being the primary villain in the Gobots cartoon. The transformation from robot to motorcycle is pretty solid. The Bike Robo looks pretty good as a robot or a motorcycle. This is one of the nicer robots in the line. The design and color scheme work very well. I think I actually had this one in the 1980’s but I traded it away to a friend.

Machine Robo MR-01 Bike Robo(バイクロボ) by Popy in Japan 1982 aka Cy-Kill in Tonka’s Challenge of the GoBots

Machine Robo MachineRobo MR-01 Cy-Kill 1982 Popy Japan Robot

Machine Robo MR-01 Stickers

Machine Robo MachineRobo MR-01 Cy-Kill 1982 Popy Instruction Manual

Machine Robo MachineRobo MR-01 Cy-Kill 1982 Popy Instruction Manual

Machine Robo MachineRobo MR-01 Cy-Kill 1982 Popy Japan Robot

Machine Robo Series Catalog 1983 Popy/Bandai Japan Robot MR 600 toyline

The catalogs are one of my favorite parts of the toys. I love getting these and checking out the other robots Bandai put out. I have used them to figure out other robots to pick up or just check out other robots that never made it to the US.

Machine Robo Series Catalog 1983 Popy/Bandai Japan Robot MR 600 line

Motorcycle form Machine Robo(マシンロボ) MR-01 Bike Robo(バイクロボ) made in 1982 by Popy/Bandai in Japan Robot

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

Victory Robo Gogofive 1999 Yutaka from Kyuukyuu Sentai GoGoFive from 1999-2000

I am looking at this robot and I have no idea why I got it. It’s another decent Sentai robot, but it’s not really from the late 70’s, the 80’s or even the early 90’s. I think it was because it was just $10 and did not take up much space. Which really is not a good reason. This robot is made up of the 99Machines. They are five rescue vehicles which can combine to form the Victory Robo from Kyuukyuu Sentai GoGoFive in 1999-2000(The 23rd entry to the Super Sentai series).  Some of that footage made it into Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue here in the states. I am a little surprised the robot is by Yutaka instead of Bandai. Its the first Super Sentai robot I have ever seen that was not made by Bandai or Popy.  All the other GoGoFive toys show Bandai branding on the box.

I found a pretty cool video of the transformation process. Like I have said before I do like the robots, but I am not a fan of the Super Sentai shows. This video made me smile. I guess I can take it in small doses.

Victory Robo Gogofive 1999 Yutaka from Kyuukyuu Sentai GoGoFive from 1999-2000

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 & 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 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 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 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

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.