Tag: 1982

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

Here is the MachineRobo MR-03 Jet Robo by Popy in 1982. I actually had this robot in the 1980’s when I went to Japan.  I picked it up for 600 yen in a department store in Shinjuku. I traded all my Machine Robo figures to a friend, but I can’t remember what I traded for. I am really glad I managed to pick up another. The Jet Robo is a classic robot from this line. Easy to transform, looks good as a robot and ok as a futuristic jet, solid red, black and silver color scheme.  For me this is just a fun robot to have.

MachineRobo(マシンロボ) MR-03 Jet Robo(ブルー・ジェット) made in 1982 by Popy/Bandai from anime Machine Robo Revenge of Cronos 1988-1989 and Challenge of the Gobots 1983-1987 known as Fitor

MachineRobo(マシンロボ) MR-03 Jet Robo(ブルー・ジェット) 1982 Popy Bandai Machine Men robot form from anime Machine Robo Revenge of Cronos 1988-1989 aka Fitor

Machine Robo MachineRobo MR-03 Jet Robo made in 1982 by Popy Japan

Machine Robo MachineRobo MR-03 Jet Robo made in 1982 by Popy Japan

Does anyone know what this comic says? I am a little curious. I am sure it is mindless drivel, but fun mindless drivel or even amusing mindless drivel is what I am hoping for. I wish I knew someone who could read Japanese. Anyway, I have always loved the attention to detail in the packaging and other things that come with Japanese toys. The robot fits perfectly in the Styrofoam and is easy to take out and put away. The toy is easy to store, the instructions, stickers and catalog all come with this beautiful little toy. In fact I was almost as excited to get the catalog as I was to get the toy. I am sure I will never have a complete set of Machine Robos, but it is nice to see them all. I know I am probably raving on about these, but the Machine Robo line is possibly my favorite.

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

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

MachineRobo MR-03 Jet Robo(ブルー・ジェット) 1982 Popy Bandai Machine Men robot form from anime Chronos no Gyakushuu マシンロボ クロノスの大逆襲) 1988-1989 aka Fitor

MachineRobo MR-03 Jet Robo(ブルー・ジェット) 1982 Popy Bandai Machine Men vehicle form from Challenge of the Gobots 1983-1987 known as Fitor

MachineRobo(マシンロボ) MR-03 Jet Robo(ブルー・ジェット) 1982 Popy Bandai from anime Machine Robo Revenge of Cronos 1988-1989 and Challenge of the Gobots 1983-1987 known as Fitor

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

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

One of my “Holy Grail” Godaikin pieces that I’d been coveting for quite a long time but could never get him at the price I wanted. I actually saw the Combattra DX in Japan, but he was 525 dollars.

Combattra V DX Godaikin 1982 Popy Chogokin GB-55 Super Robot from anime Cho Denji Robo Combattler V(超電磁ロボ コンバトラーＶ) from 1976-1977

I was very tempted to buy him at the time but I had already bought quite a few toys and this would have really put me over my budget. I then kept an eye out on Ebay and missed out on one for 125 buy it now last month and was kicking myself.  Luckily this one came up and I managed to win him for 300 dollars.  A little steep but still much cheaper than when I have seen him since this one was loose, one of his antennas is broken and he doesn’t have the weapons.  Still, I’ve very glad to have this piece since he’s just so hard to find.

I’ve finally gotten around to my Macross box and I took a group picture.  Pictured is the entire collection from the Macross series (except for the few Destroid Defenders that I wasn’t particularly in to).  These are probably my most favorite of all my entire collection.  I don’t think I could ever part with these as these were such a big part of my child hood.  I grew up with the cartoons and I purchased the toys while on various trips to Japan.  I also received the brown VF-1A from my mom for Christmas in 1983.  I remember it was almost a hundred dollars back then and I was VERY surprised she went all the way to Japantown to get it for me.  I’ll never forget that.

Macross Collection includes the VF-1A, VF-1J, VF-1S, VT-1, VE-1, SDF-1, GBP-1S Fast Pack 1/55 Takatoku Toys and Bandai releases

Voltes V DX Godaikin 1982 aka Popy Volt in Box 1977

My first experience with Godaikin robots was in the Philippines in 1983.  A friend of mine had the Voltes V DX  toy and I was in awe of it. It was a big hefty die cast metal robot.  I went to look for it, but these toys were not readily available in the Philippines. It was because of him that I got into collecting robot toys.

Fast forward a few years later and I managed to trade a bunch of Transformers for the loose version I have here.  He’s very top-heavy and doesn’t stand well without leaning against the wall.  I never had the sword – I managed to get a sword from another Godaikin.  In the cartoon, the red emblem on his chest forms the base of the sword.

Voltes V from anime Chōdenji Machine Voltes V 1977-1978

Here a taste of the first episode in the Philippines. Gotta love those Filipino accents.

Voltes V DX Volt Machine Volt In Box 1977 Popy

Voltes V DX Volt Machine Volt In Box 1977 Popy

Voltes V DX Godaikin 1982 aka Popy Volt in Box 1977 Bandai America

Voltes V DX Godaikin 1982 aka Popy Volt in Box 1977 Bandai America

Voltes V could be purchased in separate pieces as Popy PB-04, PB-05, PB-06, PB-07, PB-08, Volt-In-Box as one release, or as Voltes V the Bandai Godaikin US version of the Chogokin.