Category: Takatoku

Macross VF-1J ST 1/100 scale Hikaru Battroid Valkyrie by Takatoku Toys 1983 from anime Super Dimension Fortress Macross( 超時空要塞マクロス)

The Takatoku 1/100 scale Valkyries as a whole are a lot harder to come by than the 1/55 scale version. Except for the Hikaru VF-1J ST. This appears to be the only one that keeps coming up on the sites I usually buy from. I hope to add a few more of these to my collection next year. This is actually my first Takatoku Valkyrie. I actually added the brown cannon fodder 1/55 scale this year as well from David’s trip to Japan. Before this I only had the 1984 Bandai VF-1A, so it is nice to have one of the original Takatoku toys that started it all. I consider the these the gold standard of  robots from the 1980’s.

The toy captures the robots from the anime in great detail. The VF-1J looks fantastic both as a robot and a plane! The toy is solid with a great design and fun to transform. Normally when the robot looks good the form suffers. But  this is definitely not in this case.  The Valkyries easily outclass any transforming robots from the 1980’s with their perfect transformations(kanzen henkei). Plus it helps that the anime was one of the better ones to watch in 80’s. I like this particular color scheme as I can imagine an actual combat jet with these colors.

Macross VF-1J ST 1/100 scale Ichijō Hikaru Battroid Valkyrie by Takatoku Toys 1983 from anime Chōjikū Yōsai Makurosu( 超時空要塞マクロス)

Macross VF-1J ST 1/100 scale Hikaru Ichijyo Battroid Valkyrie by Takatoku Toys 1983 from anime Choujikuu Yousai Macross( 超時空要塞マクロス)

Gyakutenoh ST Takatoku Toys 1982 Z-Gokin Gyakuten-oh from the anime series Gyakuten! Ippatsuman (逆転!イッパツマン) from 1982-1983

Here is the Gyakuten-oh by Takatoku Toys in 1982. It is one of the standard size Z-Gokin from the anime series Gyakuten! Ippatsuman (逆転!イッパツマン) in 1982-1983. It is an old fashioned 80’s super robot with huge amount of die cast metal goodness. It’s built like a brick with arms and a head. The fists shoot using the red fins off the arms. It comes with 3 red missiles which can be shot from the arm where the fists are now. Gyakutenoh comes with a ridiculously large sword(but I just love it!) and one of the nicer shields I have seen on a robot. It reminds me of a Vikings shield as it is oval shaped with 4 spikes coming out of the shield. The head of the robot itself looks like a Viking(think Odin) or maybe a samurai helmet. Either it is a good looking robot.

Looking at this robot reminds me a little bit of Gaiking. The chest looks like there is a golden skull and the head has two large golden horns coming out of it.  It reminds me of a shorter thicker Gaiking. The robot is 5” ½, about the size of my standard sized Getter Robo robots. The arms, chest plate and head are plastic. But the legs and body are solid metal. If you toss this at someone, you can hurt them with this thing! You can attach red booster rockets to the back of the robot so it can fly(just kidding). The arms rotate at the shoulder and the legs bend at the hip. Other than that, there is no articulation on this bad boy. The head wiggles a little bit, but no actual rotation. Despite the fact that this robot does almost nothing, I love the design and look of it.

I caught a bit of the first episode on the link below and had a few chuckles. Here is the first episode of Gyakuten! Ippatsuman. Looks like the person who put these up has all 58 episodes if you want to binge watch the show.

Gyakutenoh ST Takatoku Toys 1982 Z-Gokin Gyakuten-oh from the anime series Gyakuten! Ippatsuman (逆転!イッパツマン) from 1982-1983

Jetfire Transformers Generation 1 Autobot Hasbro 1985

Here’s a picture of Jetfire – the Autobot air guardian.  He looks dramatically different from the cartoon.  He’s basically the same jet as the “Macross” series as they used the same mold. My cousin lent this one to me so that I could display it with the rest of the Macross collection.  I recall he had this as a kid but I don’t know if this is the original one – he may have re-purchased this one later on.

Jetfire Transformers Autobot from the Generation 1 cartoon

Macross VF-1J DX and ST, the DX 1/55 scale & ST 1/100 scale Takatoku Toys 1983

Here are two VF-1J’s “Hikaru Ichijyo” versions from the Macross series.  One is the Takatoku deluxe version, while the other is the smaller, ST version.  I cannot remember where I purchased the big one – I’m going to guess Japan, 1985.  The ST one, on the other hand, I vividly remember purchasing it at Longs Drugs in Burlingame (of all places). I remember when there was this big robot craze in the 80’s, you could find these toys in the most unlikely of places.  I think my cousin mentioned that he bought some Transformers from a carwash.

Anyway, the cartoon still is a picture of the VF-1J with the add-on armor. When has this armor, however, he cannot transform into a plane.

Macross VF-1J Armored Valkyrie

Here’s another robot from the Orguss series – the “Gerwalk Nikick.” I didn’t really do too much with him as a kid as it really only looks good as a robot. Still, I’m glad to have him as I have the two main robots from the Orguss series.

Gerwalk-Nikick MBG-24C 1983 Takatoku Toys 1/40

Gerwalk-Nikick in action from Super Dimension Century Orguss from 1983-1984

This one’s called Orguss Orgroid and I bought this in Japan in 1985. I bought the same robot for my cousin during my last trip to Japan in 2015 for about 120 dollars.

Drifand Orguss-Orgroid 1983 Takatoku Toys from the anime Super Dimension Century Orguss

Super Dimension Century Orguss anime 1983-1984

Here’s two variants of the VF-1A model – the red/black version from the “Do You Remember Love?” Macross movie and the brown version from the Macross series.  I purchased the red/black version on a trip to Japan in 1985 and the brown version (the first one I received for my Macross collection) I received as a Christmas present in 1984. The brown version was 70 dollars back in Dec 84.  The red/black version was purchased for about 20 dollars back in 1985.

Variable Fighter VF-1A Valkyrie 1/55 scale – Brown Takatoku Toys Mass Production version 1983 & Bandai Hi Metal Hikaru Type 1984 from Super Dimension Fortress Macross