Tag: Super Robot

Marushin Toy Machine Blaster Bull Caesar Takemi 1976 from anime Blocker Gundan IV Machine Blaster

This is the Machine Blaster Bull Caesar by Takemi in 1976. I paid $38 for each of these(Bull Caesar and the Robo Kress) whenever I bought these.  I could not figure out what these two robots I picked were. The box and catalog were all in Japanese. The internet was not nearly as fast as it is now, so it took hours(forever) to do the research I can do in a few minutes now.  So I never really bothered until I setup this site. The seller I picked these up from had no idea either.  These were likely listed as die cast metal Japanese robots.

Marushin Machine Blaster Bull Caesar Takemi 1976 Accessories

When I got them, I thought they were ugly, cheap, poorly made pieces of metal. Maybe even bootleg versions of some cool anime. I was spoiled by the quality of other Japanese toy companies like Bandai, Takara, and Takatoku robots. I was so disappointed with these, that I promptly stuck them in a box and did not look at them till I took this picture three years ago. When I finally found a little more about them, I was a little intrigued. This is the 5″ Machine Blaster Bull Caesar by Takemi from their Bigger Gokin series. Its from the  anime Blocker Gundan IV Machine Blaster(ブロッカー軍団Ⅳマシーンブラスター ) in 1976-1977. It is an early super robot, so I could forgive how crudely these were made and give them a little leeway.

The anime was popular in Europe and especially in Italy, so you can find the robots there too. These robots have a beefy Gokin heft. There is plenty of diecast metal in each robot. The Machine Blaster robots came out around the same time as the Shogun Warriors 5 inch robots, so I am little sad they did not put more thought into the design and quality of these. When I look at them, they remind me more or cheap Taiwan knock offs of the time. That being said, these are nice little time capsules of early super robots before Popy put out the Chogokin we reminisce about today.

So I finally updated the images on this post. This is the old image below. The yellowness really seems to come out on my old iPhone 4 pictures.

Bull Caesar 1976 diecast metal robot from Takemi from anime Blocker Gundan IV Machine Blaster 1976-1977 (ブロッカー軍団Ⅳマシーンブラスター ) aka Astrorobot Contatto Ypsilon in Italy (Army Corps IV)

So I guess there was a decent amount of stuff if I have to make another post for Bic Camera. If I had to guess I think Bandai wanted to get into the  building block business. So they came up with the Doubutsu Gattai ZyuohKing show to cash in on the cult that is Lego or maybe to give the robots a Minecraft look. They are kind of cool. Big, heavy, blocky, robots. It is an interesting idea at the very least. I would not buy any, but they did catch my eye every time I popped into a toy section of any department store in Japan. The DX Cube 123 King Zyuoh & 456 Dodekaioh were in a display where you could play with them hands on at another department store name Lab.

Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger DX Cube 123 King Zyuoh & 456 Dodekaioh by Bandai Japan

Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger DX Cube 123 King Zyuoh Bandai Ultraman figure Japan Gattai 2016

Is Ultraman still a thing? Just checked now, I guess that show is still going. I did not know it was an ongoing show. Just like the Super Sentai (Power Rangers in the US).

Getter Dragon, Getter 1, & Z Mazinger Dynamite Action, Destroid Monster Macross at Bic Camera

The Dynamite Action Getter Dragon figure looked pretty good. It looks like it popped right out of the cartoon. Based on what I see, I prefer it to the Soul of Chogokin version. They also have a Tetsujin 28 figure that looks pretty good. Their line of robots are totally up my alley but they seem a little pricy. I guess I will have to see how big they are.

Kaiju, Mecha Godzilla, Ultraman and more figures!

Did I ever mention I was a Godzilla fan?

Tomica Cars

The cars by Tomy are cool just because of the packaging for me. Japanese packaging has always been something I have loved about the toys. You can take them out, put them away and practically keep them brand new. In US packaging you have to destroy the packaging to take the toy out, think Matchbox cars for example.

Tomica Cars

The Robot Spirits Tamashii Nations Bandai Unicorn Gundam, Zaku & Sniper

More robots under the girls anime display, which I assume is more for guys than for girls. The Robot Spirits line by Tamashii Nations has a good selection of Gundam mobile suits and 80’s robots in the line. It seems to me to be the line that replaced the MS in Action!! line.

More Robot Spirits Gundam, Iron Man, Star Wars, Dragonballz figures

Here is my Soul of Chogokin Getter Liger. This one is not one of my favorite robots from this anime series. I have never been a big fan of its design or the color scheme. It was never a must have robot, but since it was cheap I just bought it to complete my set of Getter Robo G/Starvengers. The robot makes me think of the Greek god Hermes with a jesters hat.

Getter Liger GX-19 Bandai Soul of Chogokin 2003 from anime Getta Robo G(ゲッターロボG ) 1975-1976 Starvengers

The back of SOC Getter Liger. I never saw this one in Japan. I purchased this on Ebay 80 dollars

Here is my Soul of Chogokin Getter Poseidon. I picked it up cheap on eBay. I had the others, so I figured I would pick this one up too. It was cheaper to buy it on eBay than any of the robot shops like Mandarake in Japan. I have the older one from the 70’s so you can see how far the toys have come since then.  You can actually pose this one.

Getter Poseidon GX-20 Bandai Soul of Chogokin 2003 from anime Getta Robo G ゲッターロボG in 1975-1976

SOC Getter Poseidon. Also purchased on Ebay 11/14 for 80 dollars.

Getter Poseidon GX-20 in the Soul of Chogokin line by Bandai in 2003 from anime Getta Robo G ゲッターロボG in 1975-1976

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

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

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