Category: Bandai

Gardian Godaikin by Bandai 1982 aka Gardian by Popy 1979

Gardian GoDaiKin by Bandai 1982 aka Gardian by Popy 1979 from anime Toshi Gordian 1979-1980 styrofoam box insert Champion Gordian, Fighter Gordian, Gordian el Guerrero, Gordian et la Panthère d'acier, 闘士ゴーディアン

Gardian GoDaiKin by Bandai 1982 from anime Toshi Gordian 1979-1980

Gardian GoDaiKin by Bandai 1982 aka Gardian by Popy 1979 from anime Toshi Gordian 1979-1980 box Inside Champion Gordian, Fighter Gordian, Gordian el Guerrero, Gordian et la Panthère d'acier, 闘士ゴーディアン

Gardian GoDaiKin by Bandai 1982 from anime Toshi Gordian 1979-1980

Gardian GoDaiKin by Bandai 1982 aka Gardian by Popy 1979 from anime Toshi Gordian 1979-1980 front box Cover Champion Gordian, Fighter Gordian, Gordian el Guerrero, Gordian et la Panthère d'acier, 闘士ゴーディアン

Gardian GoDaiKin by Bandai 1982 from anime Toshi Gordian 1979-1980

Gardian is one of my favorite Godaikins. It was one of the first I saw in the 80’s in Singapore and my cousin had the Bandai Godaikin. This was my intro to big ass diecast robots. For me this is one of the classic 80’s robots. I loved the nesting feature for Garbin, Delinger and Protesser which makes it pretty unique, but it made the robot a little fragile. When I tried to put a robot inside Garbin some plastic inside the knee snapped off. That is why I haven’t pulled it out for a picture outside the box. That and some laziness on my part.

I love that you got 3 robots for the price of one, even though the smallest one Protesser  seems like a bit of an afterthought.  Protesser  is my favorite robot of the 3, but I wish it  was bigger. Actually the little yellow guy that goes inside Daigo Otaki, now that is an afterthought. Its nice to display the 3 of them side by side. Not much flexibility if any in posing these robots, except for bending the arms. I wouldn’t mind picking up a remake of these robots that had some articulation.

I always thought the Godaikins were a bit on the expensive side. It was hard to shell out the $40-80 for a one of these toys when you are a kid. But I found out they basically shipped these from Japan, pulled them from the Japanese Popy boxes and put them in their US Godaikin boxes which was an added expense. I have heard these were on clearance in the late 80’s and early 90’s at Toy’s R Us and KayBee Toys, but I never saw them on sale.

As always, the DX Godaikins have great accessories. Two swords, the laser screw, an axe, clint and a shield. I love the big swords on all of these Popy robots. It was always a party of the appeal of these robots to me.

Saw another cool robot that is very similar to this one named Baikanfu. It is from the Machine Robo line and it is a red robot that is a bit stockier. So it does not look as fragile. I have been looking for a nice one, but it has been a while since I have seen it. I usually only see the Taiwan knock off version.

Here is a intro for the anime Gordian Warrior. It ran for 73 episodes which is pretty long for most anime series.

The Protector Self Separation is from Hong Kong. The quality and paint finish on these are not nearly as good as the original Japanese versions. Especially around Garbin’s mouth grill, the paint application seems kinda burnt in. Guess Bandai or Popy sold the molds to another company when they no longer needed them. I bought this piece because I was worried I would break my Godaikin Gardian as it was a really brittle. When I tried moving the Garbin on the Godaikin Gardian for pictures, the white plastic in the knees cracked a little and I was worried about the arms being fragile. I wanted a version I would feel comfortable displaying and combining so I would not have to worry about it breaking it. Protector Self Separation was the robot for the job. ***

Protector Self Separation - Gardian GoDaiKin clone from Hong Kong

Protector Self Separation – Gardian GoDaiKin clone from Hong Kong

Protector Self Separation - Gardian GoDaiKin clone from Hong Kong box inside

Protector Self Separation – Gardian GoDaiKin clone from Hong Kong