Tag: Japan

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

So this is my first post in a while. I have been meaning to put up some of my new robots. Here is a new one from my cousin’s trip to Japan.

Aura Battler Billbine 1/46 scale SF Fantasy Figure from anime Seisenshi Dunbine 1983-1984

My cousin found this Aura Battler Billbine in a Mandarake in Akihabara. I was surprised it was only 1,080 yen(about $10 ) for an 80’s die cast metal robot. When I got it, I realized it may be a knock off. I was looking for the little Clover leaf emblem like I see on my other Aura Battler robots. But I did not see one. See the box on the bottom right? Usually the ST icon is there. The Aura Battler Dunbine robots were the last toys made by Clover. I have read conflicting reports that this Billbine may have had the molds created by Clover, then manufactured by Tomy who picked up their licenses when they folded. The box looks a lot like the Clover boxes for Aura Battler Dunbine robots. The ST icon is a Japanese safety standard not required on exported toys. So this is likely a Tomy toy made for export, as the box was unbranded/unmarked with English instructions,  but the box and robot markings indicate it was made in Japan. So yay! I have a Tomy produced Billbine.

Aura Battler Billbine 1/46 scale SF Fantasy Figure from anime Seisenshi Dunbine 1983-1984

Even if this is a bootleg, it is solid/decent die cast metal robot. Nothing about it wows me, but Clover robots rarely do. I am guessing it was probably made in the same factory as mold seems pretty solid for this robot. I do not care for the color scheme (white, red and yellow plastic with some metallic metal stickers). The legs, arms, wings, and head are plastic. But the body is mostly metal. It would have looked a lot better if the robot was bluish gray as it shows on the images in the back and box art instead of the white plastic and paint application. The hands have big bird claws on the end, but they remind me of Wolverine’s claws from the X-Men.

Aura Battler Billbine 1/46 scale SF Fantasy Figure from anime Seisenshi Dunbine 1983-1984

It’s interesting how much time they spent on wrapping this. That is a lot of time to spend on a $10 robot. I am trying to figure out if they did this to protect the packaging from water or for some other reason. After spending some time with the box, it is pretty musty. I am starting to understand why it is under wraps. As with most of the Clover robots, the box art and images are one of the nicest parts of the toy sadly enough.

Aura Battler Billbine 1/46 scale SF Fantasy Figure from anime Seisenshi Dunbine 1983-1984

Aura Battler Billbine 1/46 scale SF Fantasy Figure from anime Seisenshi Dunbine 1983-1984

The toy comes as a robot and transforms into as some kind of flying bird form. The bird form reminds me a bit of the Brave Raideen’s transformation. The feet can be squeezed together to resemble bird feet.  The wings on the back actually provide the largest range of motion and I think this is my favorite part of the robot. I was able to pose the robot with various wing configurations. The robot comes with 2 cannons you can mount on the back or put in his hands. It comes with 3 orange yellow missiles. The sword on the box illustrations is nowhere to be found though. It would be nice to pop one of those into Billbine’s hands. The robot itself barely moves or has any articulation,  but the knees and hips rotate.

I will put out some pictures from the robot itself when I get the time…

Aura Battler Billbine 1/46 scale SF Fantasy Figure from anime Seisenshi Dunbine 1983-1984

About 10-15 years ago I picked up a few cheap Aura Battler Dunbine robots when I really did not know much about robots. Mostly I was just curious as I had never seen them before. These were not robots I wanted when I was young(like the Macross and Transformers robots), so I picked up a few for fun. None of them were amazing and I really didn’t care too much about them until I learned more about the history of them and the company that made them.

Clover made a few cool robots like the Daitarn, Zambot III, Daioja and the first Gundam robots. So having these robots now is a little bit of history. So even if I cannot pick up the Clover DX Gundam’s anytime soon, the Dunbine robots will do for now.

I found the first episode of Aura Battler Dunbine on YouTube which is kind of a kick. I did not think they ported it over to English. Go figure.

Honestly, I really should be putting up the rest of my robots, but I have been busy making changes so I can change the template on the site. Once I finish, changing the template it’s back to posting robots for me! In the meantime, I have been watching some anime and been pleasantly surprised.

So I was looking for new anime that would be cool to watch. One of the highly rated ones on Netflix peaked my interest as it was about a big super robot.  Your average monster of the week versus Gurren Lagann. I watched through the first story arc and thought it was over(and kind of lame). Super robots kicking ass is usually decent entertainment. For the most part it was pretty shallow, nothing to write home about. Lots of silliness, action and fun. I actually kicked it to the side for a month or two after watching the first episode. I thought the robot was just a big head. Not quite what I was looking for, after a few more episodes a few months later now I have a super robot. Which was just alright for me.

But the first episode of the second story arc the storyline just went nuts. The story got serious and SO much darker and deeper.  There are a few twists that just take this series way over the top. Watching the first part of this series, you never would have suspected it would get this good or that it would even go in this direction. The first 16 episodes are just a prelude to the real story of Simon the Digger. Initially, I thought the storyline would be about Kamina. The ending is a little bittersweet, but watching till the end is worth the payoff. That 2nd part goes a bit Sci-Fi  and I loved where it took me. Go Team Gurren!

I rate this a  8/10.  Definitely and surprisingly worth your time if you don’t mind waiting 16 episodes for it to get good.

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann anime 2007

Danguard Ace is another anime Super Robot that came to us with the Shogun Warriors. Dangard was one of the earlier Super Robots. The anime came out way back in 1977. I never had this one as a kid. Here is my Soul of Chogokin Danguard A that I picked up on my trip to Japan this year. I picked this up at a pretty good price and I am really happy I have this in my collection.

Danguard A Ace GX-62 Bandai Soul of Chogokin 2013 from anime Planet Robot Danguard Ace 1977-1978

Soul of Chogokin – Danguard A Ace GX-62 Bandai2013 from anime Wakusei Robo Danguard Ace 惑星ロボダンガードＡ 1977-1978

Danguard Ace GX-62 Bandai Soul of Chogokin 2013 from anime Danguard Ace

Soul of Chogokin Danguard A GX-62 Bandai 2013

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.

UFO Robo Grendizer GX-04 Bandai Grandizer Soul of Chogokin 2000 from anime UFO Robo Grandizer from 1975 to 1976

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.

UFO Robo Grandizer GX-04 Bandai Soul of Chogokin 2000 from anime Yûfô robo Gurendaizâ from 1975 to 1976

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.

UFO Robo Grendizer GX-04 Bandai Soul of Chogokin 2000 from anime UFO Robo Grandizer ＵＦＯロボグレンダイザー from 1975 to 1976

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.

Bandai Museum Combatler V display Tochigi prefecture Mibu

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.

Bandai Museum Getter Robo robot display Tochigi prefecture Mibu

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

Bandai Museum Super Robot display Tochigi prefecture Mibu

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

Voltes V Volt in Box display Tochigi prefecture Mibu

Volt-in Box Popy Voltes V

So I bought the Yamato Shin Getter Robo Repaint in San Francisco in the early 2000’s. I am thinking 2004 since the anime for Getter Robo: Armageddon/Shin Getter Robo came out then. I don’t see much info on it out there, so I don’t know when it came out. I may need to run a search in Japanese to find out more.

You can’t tell by looking at it, but it is a big piece. I like to think of it as a Mini Machinder as it is a big vinyl Japanese robot. If you check out the back image of the box you can see it comes with a humongous axe!  The pole on the axe is like 15 inches long and with the Tomahawk blade  it is 20 which is awesome. The robot runs about 12 inches tall. Shin Getter 1 Robo is a pretty nice looking robot and the wings are really a nice touch. I almost think they are there to help Shin Getter stand. The wings remind me of an dragon, the wings on Great Mazinga or Mazinkaiser.

It’s a good looking revamp of the old anime robots from Getter Robo. I like the deep blue color, more than the red one you usually see on this robot.  I will have to check the anime on it as I was a fan of the old anime. I am afraid I only bought this because it was cheap($29.99!), but the anime sounds interesting as it supposedly goes in a more serious, darker path than the original anime.

This robot was made by Yamato/Toycom. I don’t have many robots by Yamato. I think I only have two. It’s hard to tell when the writing is all in Japanese. Oddly enough, I never opened this one.

Yamato Shin Getter Robo Days of Apocalypse – Repaint Version 2004

Shin Getter Robo Days of Apocalypse Yamato – Repaint Version 2004

Yamato Shin Getter Robo Days of Apocalypse – Repaint Version 2004