DX Robo

Raydeen was another of my favorite robots from the 70’s Shogun Warriors.  I read the old Marvel Comic book, but its another one where we never saw the anime here. There was no Force Five dub on this one we could watch here. We didn’t have options like Youtube or Crunchyroll to get our anime fix, but with a little imagination and a cool metal robot we were good to go. Here is the Soul of Chogokin Reideen the Brave GX-41.  I put him next to the old 5″ Mattel Shogun Warrior Raydeen from 1979 as a point of comparison.

 

Dave added this one in Akhibara. Comparing it against the old Shogun Warriors 5 inch, I can see it is a real improvement. He looks like a pharoah from hieroglyphs. Not sure why there are so many variations on his name, I have seen it as Raydeen, Raideen or Reideen. The Soul of Chogokin version is better by far. He bears a much better resemblance to his anime version and as always the articulation and poseability are amazing in comparison.  But the old Shogun Warrior holds a special place in my heart. That being said, I can’t wait till I have one of these as well.

 

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.

 

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.

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.

Meet Power Goldan or Ougon Gattai Goldran from the anime Ōgon Yūsha Goldran from 1995-1996. I had never heard of Polyfect Toys till I bought Construction(Devastator knock off). They seem to be the fine purveyors of knockoff robots. Power Goldan will not be a part of my collection, but I find this toy line fascinating. The quality is not terrible and these are not the worst robots I have ever seen. But they are all plastic, the color is terrible, and this one looks kinda cheap. The instructions show he can turn into a dinosaur/dragon type robot and back.

I always find cheap robots fun and really tacky(which is the fun part). So if you don’t mind spending a few bucks on Power Goldan you can add him to your collection on the cheap. I hope they keep extending this line until I see something I like robot wise.

 

More pictures from the Bandai Museum. Here are some pictures for your pleasure. Sorry, Dave took them from his phone so they are not that good. A lot of them are blurry or the focus is off. Other than that, they are still pretty cool to look at.

 

This is one of the robots I would love to add to my collection. This Combatler-V has nicer proportions than the DX version Combine Box. On the lower row are the ST Combatler and the little 3 inch Shogun Warrior version of Combatler.

The Getter Robo display with the ships on the left that form Getter Liger, Getter Dragon, and Getter Poseidon along the top. On the bottom row are Getter 1, Getter 2 and Getter 3.

Daimos ST & DX, Don Hakka,  and Batten Robo Maru at the bottom, Gaiking, Daiku Maryu, and Gunbuster,

Tank Transer BW-1 and Jet Transer JW-1

Popy Tin Gaiking, Getter Dragon, Dangard Ace Dia Battle(Diaclone).

Volt-in Box Popy Voltes V

This is Construction(lamest name ever, right?). I found this combiner robot at Danny’s Carwash 6 years ago. Aside from the robot’s name and brand Polyfect Toys, there is almost no English on the package. It’s all in Chinese. But what this really is, is a really cool knock off of the Generation 1 Devastator. Go figure. I had hours of fun playing with these at my desk at work transforming them when I was bored.

 

The only other English on the box besides Construction is the name of each combiner robot, the distributor, and the choking warning. The names are as generic as you can get(Building, Feeding, Picking, Sanitation, Ravage, Disguise). Wonder what genius figured out those names? Anyway, I lost this piece and I found it again at the Dollar Store. Guess they keep pumping out more of these, but I am glad they did.  I see some Spanish on these, so they must be selling it in Spain or Mexico too. Probably China too, seeing as there is Chinese all over it.

This is a fun piece to have and such a great price. I only ever had 2 of the original G1 Constructicons, so it is nice to have them all in this piece. I am wondering why they are still selling the Polyfect Construction after all these years. I am thinking Takara must have sold them rights to use the original molds as they look identical to the original Devastator. The quality is not that great(the plastic is cheap and the paint job is not that good), but now I feel much more comfortable transforming each of these as I did not spend a ton on these robots.

Prowl is a nice piece to add your Masterpiece collection(probably the best one this year). I have yet to own one of the Masterpiece Editions, but this one is making me think about it. I usually try to add the cheaper new Transformers or pieces from the 70’s, 80’s and early 90’s.

Prowl is one of my favorite Autobots and one of the better Generation 1 toys.  I never had one and this piece is so much nicer than the original G1 robot by far, but for the price I wish it was a little taller than 7 inches.  It looks so close to the cartoon version it is making me itch to see the old cartoons again. From the pose on the box it has much more articulation than the original, so poses will be much more fun than what you could do before. The police car transformation really looks great, but the robot form is where the toy really shines. What a beautiful version of Prowl. Though it seems a lot of people prefer the Takara version. The only big plus I can see is that the missile launchers shoot( I actually prefer the white missile launchers to the original black ones. They look too big). One other plus I see is the Takara box is so much smaller. The Hasbro box seems like a space waster. You can get either version on Amazon, eBay or ToysRUs.com.

If you are going to pick up a Masterpiece robot Prowl blows away Sunstorm. And the Masterpiece Grimlock re-release is just another reissue. So they will likely put him back out again in some form or other.

 

The most amazing Transformers robot to come out in years, just showed up at my local Toys R’ Us(For me, feel free to dispute my claim. I am partial to planes.).  I am a huge fan of the new Generations Jetfire, which puts the “Thrilling” in the Thrilling 30th Anniversary of our favorite robots. The robot looks amazing as a robot and a plane, but the robot form takes the cake.  I have been waiting months for this robot to come out and I have not been disappointed. Jetfire looks pretty darn close to his G1 roots as a robot. Which is great as the original Generation 1 toy looked nothing like the cartoon. It was based on the Takatoku Toys Macross VF-1S Super Valkyrie which I have and love(it is one of my only 1980’s Valkyries), but was disappointed as well. It was not until the Classics Jetfire Transformers Voyager line in 2006 that we actually received a Jetfire robot that remains true to the show.  It only took 20 years. So if you do not want to throw down the dough for the 2006 Jetfire(which is a great piece, this is an awesome alternative).

Jetfire comes with a few accessories a missile launcher, arm cannons, turbo thrusters, and removable battle helmet. My favorite is the helmet. It makes him look a little like the old Macross Valkyrie, but with it off he looks like the G1 robot we have all been waiting for.  The thrusters and arm cannons give him weapons and the thrusters are nice as they remind me of on the ones on my original Jetfire G1 robot. I do not really care for the metallic red on the thrusters and guns, but it is more of a matter of taste as it does not really detract from the robot itself. If you are as excited about Jetfire as I am, you can buy him from Amazon here.

 

 

I haven’t purchased Jetfire, but I am sure I will have one soon.