“So the Gaiking and the Bluefighter have the same torso”?
“Yes”
“So you could technically take the Gaiking chest and transfer it to the Bluefighter”?
…
“You know, that never occurred to me.”
And so a new hybrid was born.
I threw up a quick post quickly last month here about the bad ass Nekosaur Z that Gatchabert did up for me but felt the need to take a group shot. Man, this thing really delivers. I love the old school overspray. Check out the similarities with the Popy mini sofubi Great Mazinger. Big ups to the MAN, Sifu Alen Yen for bringing this bad ass figure into existence and some real big ups to Bert Gatchalian aka Gatachabert for the SICK interpretation ala Go Nagai. His work never ceases to amaze.
Purchase your very own Nekosaur sofubi HERE.
You can also follow the work of Bert Gatchalian HERE.
Standing at a foot tall and sporting a scarf, this is probably my favorite in Popy’s “BIG” line of vinyls circa 1981. Of the four Popy “BIG” vinyls, that I know of at least, I own only three. KR Super 1, Tetsujin 28 and Tigermask, Golion being the odd man out due to it’s supremely bad ass ability to combine.. Either way, neither of other two I own step to Kamen Rider SUPAHHH 1. Nothing spectacular aside from the removable vinyl fists and window box (common among all “BIG” vinyls), similar to his chogokin counterpart.
Not really that exciting of a toy. Honestly I just wanted an excuse to see how many times I could write “BIG” in quotations. Whoo hoo!!
Planet Robo Danguard Ace (惑星ãƒãƒœ ダンガードA(エース) Wakusei Robo DangÄdo Ä’su)
I’m going through the sea of crap I have in cases and slowly storing stuff in an effort to make space. Thought I would take a quick minute to bust out a few pics of these guys together. At some point I’ll need to take out my chogokin and popynica and take a massive group shot. Enjoy!
Yo! Erik… It was awesome meeting you in SFO.
Thank you for sharing your collection. Most of
all, thanks for this guy!
It was tough trying to figure out how to start this brog. I feel like I have volumes to tell…but with my mind racing as it is, trying to maintain some semblance of coherence is tougher that you’d think. I mean, I could start by talking about the day I decided to PM the seller in the middle of my vacation on the Cape. I could wax poetic about when I first got back into “kid’s” stuff like robot toys, cartoons, and the like back in high school. Hell, I could even begin with how being a latch-key kid paved the way to my super robot fandom…not to mention the unfathomable hours spent in front of the fucking tube.
Passion. That’s a good place to start. A lot of us have different collecting focuses, habits…allowances. In fact, pick any two of us and I’ll bet our respective toy fetishes are pretty diverse. I’ve always been a bit of a journeyman in terms of collecting. Granted, I may drink a bit too deeply in the glowing rubber dinosaurs, but I appreciate a pretty stoopidly-wide variety of toys. As such, I’ve always striven to get my favorite specimens of each food group…rather than seeking completion of any one particular line or another. But then, I’ve always been surrounded by the likes of JoshB, Fraser, and Nekrodave. The Raideen/Voltron aficionado, “Mr. C-10”, and the Jumbo master. It was only a matter of time before I started showing signs of radiation poisoning…
One beloved favorite of mine has always been Force Five. Having been born in ’78, I was real young when it aired. Oh, it had such an impact on me, though. It fueled my young imagination where real life generally sucked. Everytime my folks and I drove past a huge building like the air traffic control tower over at Logan airport, I’d envision it sprouting arms and walking across the landscape. When I looked up in the sky on a bright sunny day, I pictured the Space Dragon (Daikumaryu) cruising past the clouds like a fat bumblebee. For some reason, though, none of the shows grabbed me the same way Grandizer did.
Somehow, Grandizer brought it all together for me. Conflicted hero from another planet. Groovy black outfit. Badass robot-flying saucer combo. To me, he was the shit. Grandizer’s my passion.
So how does this particular grail tale begin? Well, I started collecting toys more or less “officially” about 10 years ago, though it took a while before I really jumped into vintage. I mean, prices had come down since a decade before with the rise of eBay and Y!J, but all those zeroes were still daunting as fuck. I forget when I picked up my first GA-37, but it was a *while* back…and only stung a few Benjamin’s worth. It wasn’t until about four years ago when I broke the thousand-dollar mark with a lovely Godaikin T28. Dave joked that this was the end for my ass…’cause, y’know, once you’ve spent over a grand on a toy, dropping g’s ain’t no thing, apparently!
Well, fuckin’-ay, maybe he was onto something. Not long after busting my four-figure cherry, I got an offer from a TBDXer for a Popy JM Grendizer in killer shape. Shit. Decision time. A fellow Masshole who didn’t mind a local pickup. A sick deal. And, with Jumbo prices just beginning to soar, the timing totally made sense. So where was this hesitation coming from? First major (non-Shogun Warrior) Jumbo? Fuck that, this was arguably the ultimate Grendizer toy! No. Knowing me like only I do, the hesitation came from the knowledge that once I threw down for this puppy…I’d have to track down a Jumbo Spazer in *at least* as nice shape. Balls…
But, I mean, look at this gods damn thing. It’s fucking gorgeous! Is it any wonder why the hesitation melted away in an instant? No doubt, from that point on, I was committed. I had my Grendizer JM and I was happy as a pig in shit…and I knew I’d have my Spazer someday. The birth of a grail quest.
And for years, I watched nearly half a dozen Spazers come and go on the open market–for ludicrous money–and usually in meh condition. My hope of picking one of these toys up waned. But I haven’t been sleeping… Over the years, I’ve been busy. Being a part of this community and heading out to many of the great events Alen, Erik, and company have put on has really made a difference in my collecting life. And a lot of these guys I’m truly honored to call “friend”. As Mason is fond of saying, fuck toys: the friendships forged in this improbable hobby come first.
And this summer, the karmic boomerang wafted over the gentle Cape Cod air…my way.
While on vacation in P-town, Nekrodave told me about a TBDXer who was thinking of selling his Jumbo Grendizer and Spazer. I knew this person through some friendly PMs about, of all fucking things, Popy Ulysses 31 toys. Thing is, Dave told me he was going through some hard personal stuff–he wasn’t just selling the toys for the hell of it. That sucks, y’know? So I PM him…and was real with him. See, even if we’re not tight, it’s tough whenever a member of the community goes through some shit that forces them to sell something they love so much. It’s kinda like the Solondz auction at Morphy’s… Anyway, we e-mailed, shot the shit for a while, and it turns out he’s mad cool. Yeah, what was going on with him sure sucked, but at the very least, we had a chance to help each other out here.
Grail inbound. It takes a while to iron out the details ’cause I’m a paranoid schmuck. A couple hiccups and false starts. Eventually, a hero enters the picture. No, he doesn’t wear spandex or pilot a super robot (at least, not to my knowledge). He’s “Julian X”, my agent in France. Well, okay…he’s actually just my coworker. Anyway, he agrees to meet with the seller in person, pay in cash, verify the toy, and take possession of it. Fan-fucking-tastic! My closest homeboys are cheering me on and periodically ask for updates. I’m psyched as shit, but I tell them firmly, until I have this thing in my hands, I’m not letting up one iota of excitement.
Julian schedules the pickup for a Friday evening. Ask Mason–that whole week, I’m counting the fucking hours. Thursday rolls around…24 hours before the scheduled pickup…I get a call from the Man. He casually tells me, on the way to one of our clients just outside of Paris, that he has the toy. A whole day early. I need to change my pants. And despite being “used to” my colorful personality, my group at the office is wondering why I’m doing the Running Man.
All that’s left is to ship it over here to the US, right? Well, what takes place over the next couple months still has us shaking our heads. Apparently, the French postal system leaves much to be desired, and like Public Enemy, Julian and I simply Can’t Truss It. We’re both busy guys who travel a lot, so doing the legwork of researching shipping options ranks about as low as dental cleanings. Suddenly, brilliance strikes: our company attends major engineering trade shows every year in Paris, and we always have a huge booth set up with faux walls, stools, big-screen monitors, the works. Well, it’s gotta get there somehow, right? Let’s let our company’s shipping agent handle all the details!
Excellent. Now I have a shipping agent. Uhh. Well, anyway, I explained the situation to the nice lady at the agency. She understood. Then she promptly blew me off. For weeks. Awesome.
I eventually start calling daily for updates. She keeps saying she’s waiting on her shippers to get back to her with quotes for insuring this beast. After over a month of this, I start calling multiple times a day. Julian and I start thinking we shoulda just dropped the box in regular air mail, declare it as being worthless, fuck insurance, fuck US customs, and just cross our fingers.
FINALLY, I squeeze it outta her. Apparently, none of her carriers can insure an antique toy. I guess it makes sense. How do you prove it’s value? How do you prove it’s condition before shipping if it gets supposedly damaged in transit? Anyway, I ask her how much it’ll cost without insurance. Her “most trusted” carrier quoted us…$2500.
I laughed in her face.
Fuck the world. We went with Fedex for a couple hundred bucks.
But over the months (ugh), Julian’s been busy. He’s assembled the most impressive shipping box I’ve ever seen. It’d make Fraser blush. When he originally picked up the toy from the seller, they verified the contents, then sealed the box airtight in cellophane. Later, Julian locked that shit down in two thick layers of bubble wrap, a layer of bunched up newspapers, and *two* layers of cardboard made by doubling-up four huge shipping boxes.
Julian e-mails me once the Fedex guys pick up the box. It arrives a few days later at my office. Later that night, after waiting so long to ship the damn thing, after months of haggling over payment and the logistics of picking the thing up, after years waiting for the right Spazer to come along, after a decade of rekindling my childhood love of super robots and collecting toys…my grail is here.
And it’s one magnificent son of a bitch.
I mean, the outer box is worn, but there’s no major damage to the thick, heavy cardboard. The toy inside has never been unwrapped, let alone assembled. Now, queue the hate: I collect toys, not objet d’art…so you’re fuck-damned right, I pulled that bastard out, put it together, and flew it around the room! And, oh, it is fucking glorious.
Despite being older than me, there were only a couple minor issues with the toy. The Spin Saucer launcher in the starboard wing is powered by a rubber band. Yeah. That crumbled instantly. Fortunately, taking the launcher apart and replacing the band took less than a couple minutes. Also, the red “stickers” on the main hull of the saucer are clearly peeling. They’re not really stickers, though: they’re thick vinyl cutouts. I’m considering carefully removing them and replacing them with modern vinyl decal material. Either that or figure a way to re-adhere them to the toy. Oh, one weird thing: the handles (included, but not shown above) shoot missiles that are actually a tiny bit smaller than standard JM missiles. Imagine my shock when I tried to pop one of Grendizer’s missiles into the handles…only to realize it wasn’t even engaging the spring!
Anyway, thing’s built like a fucking tank! It’s construction is mostly heavy-duty plastic with steel hardware for the wheels on the bottom. No, I haven’t tried sitting on it (I’ll leave that up to photoshop). Oh, the vertical stabilizer is blow-molded polyethylene. Dave approves. The colorful insert on the floor of the interior is printed cardboard…same thing with the Duke Freed image in the cockpit (which is capped off by the same clear plastic you’d find on your average carded action figure!). It’s big, heavy, and gorgeous.
Together again, for the first time.
Yes, I’m one happy sumbitch. I just wanna thank all you, bastards: without my friends in this hobby paving the way, my love for this stuff never would have evolved as it has. Thanks for letting me share this with you guys! One love.
Grandizer, GO!!
Just got these 2 Popy Kyodain Vinyls.
Here’s my shoot-through-the-toy-lens-try.
Well, didn’t really work. No sharp fotos. Maybe the Popy lens isn’t high-end ;-)
But the vinyls are great.
cheers
U-Combine Shogun Combatra Deluxe Set. One of my holy grails becomes reality.
It all begun with the Shogun Warriors. They infected my brain with the japanese robot virus
more then 30 years ago. If I knew as a kid that there is a Shogun Combatra Deluxe Set
existing…but I didn’t, no Combatra in germany. So I had been a happy kid without Combatra.
Why Combatra with only one “t”? Bad translation by Mattel?
Ok, back to Combatra. A few years ago I realized that there is a Shogun Combatra Deluxe Set
and the U-Combine set with 5 individual boxes. But I needed some years to get my Combatra.
A few weeks ago “my” set pops up on ebay. Looked not to bad on the pictures. Nearly complete &
nice condition and comes with the box. I think the most important thing of this great robot is
the box…the wonderful, some say crappy, shogun box. Here are some impressions…
The Box is made of simply cardboard only the front is printed full color, back is only 1 color blue.
But its huge. You see it compared with the rodan box etc. Well, nearly forget this, the box is the
most expensive part of combatra deluxe set ;-)
Most of you guys own such a Combattra PA-78-82, or had one in your hands sometime.
For me its my “first time”. I’m impressed how big Combattra is in reality.
Here are some detail shots of the 5 vehicles that could be combined to Combattra.
After you combined Battle Jet, Battle Clasher, Battle Tank, Battle Marine and Battle Craft
you get the biggest metal Shogun Warrior ever. Mr.Combattra. As the box says:
“Combine ’em to make a robot 1 foot tall!”
Great robot design from any angle.
To tell my “how-I-come-to-my-Combatra-story” to the end. As I mentioned he pops up on ebay.
I was high-bidder 2 times, but didn’t met the reserve. I wasn’t sure how much Combatra is worth for me,
I looks that I didn’t love ($) him enough. But I had a third chance. Because reserve wasn’t met 2 times,
the seller (a nice guy from California) wanted to sell Combatra as “direct buy” or “make a offer”.
It looks that my offer was better than the offer of another guy…
That was, again, a little foto lovestory. Sorry I waste so much webspace for
a “simple” Combatra….Combattra.
I always get very emotional when I got a new bot ;-)
Green Text Book – Know your humans
1. Humans bleed when hurt
2. Humans never drink gasoline
3. Humans are animals that get sleppy at night
Black Text Book – Robot Cell Diagram
-complicated formula
Red Text Book – Most Distinguished Robot in the world
1. Gantsu Sensei
2. Robocon
Yellow Text Book – 3 Laws of Robotics
1. Robots must always work for humans
2. Robots must never cause trouble for humans
3. Robots must alway try their best to become class a Robots.
Blue Text Book – Robot School Final Numbers (report card)
Robocon – zz802
Robochoi – qa77
Roboriki – ss33
Robomero – kv933
Robopin – ru799
Robodeki – aa457
Robopeke – xy007
Roboinu – zu633
Robopa – uu?07
