Author: Con

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

Aura Battler Dana-O’Shee Clover 1/58 scale 1983 from anime Aura Battler Dunbine 1983-1984

Gotta love those Japanese! I laugh every time I look at the placement of this insect mecha’s “tail’ as it were. Reminds of the Zone of the Enders robot or the trigger on the Shockwave before they made it a Transformer. Do a quick image search and you will know what I mean. LOL, I am dying here. Sorry, I have to figure out how to move on. I have never seen the anime, but after reading the synopsis it makes me think of Vision of Escaflowne. Robots, knights, and fairies in the time of chivalry. Sounds like fun if they set it up right.

Checking out Dana O’Shee, the robot has such an organic feel. Rounded body parts, insect like, its kind of awkward looking for a robot. The legs look like they walk the other way. The design is kind of funky, but it does have character. I can imagine this would have been a great Insecticon if it could transform, but it doesn’t. I got these around 2003-2007 because I was curious and I got a cheap run of them for about $40 each. I had never seen or heard of them before. When I got them I remember being disappointed. Now oddly enough, I am glad I got a few of these, as they have an ungodly amount of die cast metal. It’s a heavy little bugger. They have a satisfying heft to them.

The design, articulation and build are pretty standard for a Clover robot. Clunky poor design, lots of metal, barely any articulation, and does a poor job of representing the anime robot. Now that I know more about theses robots and have watched a little bit of the anime.

Here is the opening for the anime Aura Battler Dunbine from 1983-1984. Fun stuff.

Aura Battler Dana-O’Shee Clover 1/58 scale 1983 from anime Aura Battler Dunbine 1983-1984

Aura Battler Dana-O’Shee Clover 1/58 scale 1983 from anime Aura Battler Dunbine 1983-1984

Aura Battler Dana-O’Shee Clover 1/58 scale 1983 from anime Aura Battler Dunbine 1983-1984

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

Astro Fighter Mask and Robot 1/500 scale

So I found this bootleg Astro Fighter Mask and robot at the same store as the last robot in Burgos Spain. I have no idea what it is. I am thinking Zone of the Enders maybe? Anyone, Buehler? The image on the box makes me think of the Gundam with the wings.

Optimus Prime Mask from Age of Extinction Transformers movie

For some reason they decided to add the robot with this mask. I am not even sure why you would include the robot if it is not even an Optimus Prime robot. It seems kind of random. It definitely looks like the Optimus Prime mask from one of the movies. It is pretty similar to the one out now. I put in a picture of the most current one at Target above. It’s a pretty cool robot mask, but the robot looks really generic.

Found an old Optimus mask that fits the bill.  It is the Hasbro Transformers Optimus Prime Voice Changer Helmet from 2006.

The bootleg toy is made by La Gran Familia in Spain. I think their site is gftoys.biz or the now defunct lgftoys.com. It looks really cheaply made. I wouldn’t pay  €10 for it.

Astro Fighter Mask and Robot 1/500 scale

The Gerwalk Nikick is another of my favorite robots from the 1980’s(Takatoku made some great robot toys before they went out of business). I watched some of the Super Dimension Century Orguss series in the late 90’s on VHS tapes at my old video rental store, remember those days? I enjoyed them, but it was not hard core sci-fi like Super Dimension Fortress Macross. The storyline felt a bit hokey. My cousin already had the Orgroid and Nikick robots back in 1984, but we really had no context for them back then. I never finished the story line as they never finished the dubs on VHS. Looks to me like they only dubbed the first 17 episodes and never completed the entire 35 episodes. The only dvds I see for these are the Japanese set and Japanese dvds are so expensive!

Gerwalk Nikick MBG-24C 1983 1/40 scale Takatoku Toys from anime Super Dimension Century Orguss 1983-1984

I always liked the design of the Gerwalk Nikick MBG-24C. It looks like a walking tank. The color scheme seems right for a military robot compared to the Orgroid. The head seems a bit small, but overall I really like the design and feel of this robot. I prefer it over the Orgroid, the other robot in this series(which is still a pretty cool robot). It transforms to a Gerwalk and flight form as well, making it much like the Macross Valkyries. The Nikick is another great transforming robot from Takatoku Toys.

Gerwalk Nikick MBG-24C 1983 1/40 scale Takatoku Toys from anime (超時空世紀オーガス Chōjikū Seiki Orguss) from 1983-1984

Gerwalk Nikick MBG-24C 1983 1/40 scale Takatoku Toys from anime Super Dimension Century Orguss 1983-1984

1000 Visits!

Sorry I missed the Robot of the Week last week. I have been editing all the posts that you guys have been visiting every day this week. Making the images bigger and centering them, making the posts look nicer. My cousin Dave left us with photos that were only twice as large as thumbnails it seems at 220 pixels wide and just tossed into the post with no sense of order. So I decided bigger was better and went large with 350 pixels. The finish product is so much better, but I still haven’t fixed all the posts. Only the ones that are generating any visits/interest. This is time consuming work! I can definitely consider this a labor of love.

I am so excited to note we have had 1,000 visitors in 9 months!  We had 500 after 7 months in February, but doubled that in just 2 months now in April Hooray! The first four months there were 79 visits and that was mainly just me and my cousin.

This site was initially just homework for me to start learning WordPress, Google Analytics, and adsense, start cataloging my robots so I would know what I have(and my cousin would know for his trip to Japan in October last year), and now I want to see how far I can take the site as traffic has continued to grow. As more and more people check out the site, it seems like others share my love of robots old and new!

Dragun, Raider, & Poseidon Mattel Shogun Warriors

Gears is a cool little mini vehicle is a nice design and easy to transform. Since you don’t have to extend the legs, he stands a lot easier than say Bumblebee and Cliffjumper from the same collection of G1 mini vehicles. Mini vehicles in general are simplistic robots in form and transformation, but that makes them a lot of fun. I find myself transforming them back and forth as I take pictures, write about them, and research more about these pieces. This one is in pretty good shape except for the Autobot sticker. It’s not too bad in either robot or truck form.

Gears Generation 1 Autobot Hasbro 1984

When these came out in the 80’s I really didn’t care much for them. I only came into them recently in auction lot of which now makes up the bulk of my G1 Transformers.  This line of robots really remind me of the Gobots or Machine Robo. I find the original Japanese Machine Robos superior in packaging and design. They transform easier, you can keep them in their original packaging, and they look good both as robots and vehicles. Because of these similarity and the fact that I don’t care if I break them, I find them just as fun. This is probably my favorite one to play with so far. =)