Tag: Popy

Laserion was one of the easier Godaikins to pick up. I guess he was not as popular as the others. I often see the ST and DX versions of the Laserion Godaikin at affordable prices on the auctions site. Laserion was from the Anime Video Warrior Laserion  a show about virtual reality, a boy and a robot that ran for two years 1984-1985. This is the 5 inch ST version. I love the heft of this thing. They made these robots with quite a bit a die cast metal.

I would have loved to see Anime with all of the Godaikin robots in them, it would be fun to see them duke it out(but I guess I can do that already by playing Super Robot Wars). I really was not a fan of these Laserion robots until I got one. I thought it was a really generic, plain, boring, boxy looking robot. I really wanted a robot with more of a face instead of just a helmet with two eyes. Initially I thought it was so blocky and not very creative.

Now that I have one I feel it is one of my better pieces. The body on the robot is great, he has a thick solid build, the paint application on the chest/body is great and does not have any issues standing. I like the color scheme and it has some nice detail on the leg etchings and arms. Still, I would like a little more detail on the head.

It is a pretty good representation robot in the cartoon. I may just have to check out the Anime on the web some where. I have the DX version of Laserion. I lent it to my cousin as he loves to display these things. I hope he dusts it.

Here is the opening credits on the anime. It does not look like much, but it is starting to grow on me after seeing the third time.

Here is an episode for Video Warrior Laserion anime 1984-1985

Laserion ST GoDaiKin 1985 by Bandai

Laserion ST GoDaiKin 1984 by Bandai

Laserion ST GoDaiKin 1984 by Bandai aka Popy GC-15 from the anime Video Senshi Lezarion 1984-1985

Since I have the Laserion Godaikin DX and ST version, I can pop in a picture of both of them together into this post later. Pop in a comment below and I will get to it a little quicker. ***

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-02 Battle Robo by Popy in 1982. I am on a roll. 2 posts in 2 days, WOO HOO! Anyway this is some sort of futuristic tank. In fact this robot is named Tank in the Challenge of the GoBots. One of Cy-Kill’s evil dumb henchmen. I don’t get it, how can a robot be stupid? Bad AI software, low processing speeds maybe?

I like the aesthetics of the tank and the robot, but I imagine it is a pretty high profile for a tank though. I noticed I was missing the smaller guns that are supposed to come out of the front of the tank, which kinda sucks.  The Styrofoam was not meant for this little bugger, so the arms will not hold in place when transformed. The colors are nice, even though I have never seen a blue army tank in real life. I guess  I should not look for any realism in children’s toys, but there is always hope. The transformation is as easy as it gets. You fold the head over so he is kissing his feet and put in the guns and the turret. This is another cool robot from the Machine Robo line.

MachineRobo(マシンロボ) MR-02 Battle Robo 1982 Popy/Bandai from anime Machine Robo Revenge of Cronos 1988-1989 and Challenge of the Gobots 1983-1987 aka Tank

MachineRobo(マシンロボ) MR-02 Battle Robo 1982 Popy/Bandai from anime Machine Robo Revenge of Cronos 1988-1989 and Challenge of the Gobots 1983-1987 aka Tank

MachineRobo MR-02 Battle Robo(バトルロボ) 1982 Popy/Bandai from anime Machine Robo Revenge of Cronos 1988-1989 and Challenge of the Gobots 1983-1987 aka Tank

MachineRobo MR-02 Battle Robo 1982 Popy/Bandai from anime Machine Robo Revenge of Cronos 1988-1989 and Challenge of the Gobots 1983-1987 aka Tank

MachineRobo MR-02 Battle Robo 1982 Popy/Bandai from anime Machine Robo Revenge of Cronos 1988-1989 and Challenge of the Gobots 1983-1987 aka Tank

MachineRobo MR-02 Tank Battle Robo 1982 Popy Bandai Machine Robo box side 2

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

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.

Reideen the Brave GX-41 Bandai Soul of Chogokin 2008 from anime Brave Raideen from 1975 to 1976

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.

Reideen the Brave GX-41 Bandai Soul of Chogokin 2008 from anime 勇者ライディーン Yuusha Raideen from 1975 to 1976

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

My cousin Dave is in Japan now hunting for robots and he made it out to the Bandai Museum in Mibu 100 km from Tokyo. He was a little miffed it was 2.5 hours away by train. 5 hours on a train both ways would drive me nuts. I guess they do not want a lot of tourist traffic as it is so far off the beaten track.

It does not look like much based the the pictures he took. I have a feeling it is a really small museum. His picture taking skills need a little work based the image of the Sentai robot display. Guess I will have to make it out there myself if I want better pictures.

Bandai Museum Sentai robot display Mibu, Japan

Due to the quality of the image, I can only make out a few of the Sentai robots. Along the top i see the older ones. On the top left going right I see, Battle Fever J, Daidenjin, Sun Vulcan, Goggle V, Dyjupiter, Dyna Robo, Bio Robo, Change Robo. On the second row from the top I can make out gold robots, Turbo Robo, and Super Turbo Robo. On the third row Star Five, Turbo Robo the, Magma Base just dominates, it is just huge Jet Garuda, Jet Icarus . On the fourth row I can make out VicTrailer, MegaVoyager, BullTaurus, GingaiOh, Giga Phoenix

Bandai Museum Vavilos Space Sheriff Shaider robot display Mibu, Japan

Bandai Museum Daltanious/Daltanias robot display Tochigi prefecture Mibu

Bandai Museum Jumbo Machinder robot display Tochigi prefecture Mibu

So listed from the top left to right are Daimos, Daitetsujin 17, Five Robo. On the bottom row are Daltanious, Combattler V and Tetsujin 28.

Bandai Museum Popy robot display Mibu, Japan

Muteking on top, Eva Police, Postoller, Robot 8 Chan(Robo Hacchan), dol Giran, Godsigma ST on the second row