toyboxdx toy blog brog: is graceful art of daily expressing japanese toy  

Here’s something that slipped under the radar: Marusan Toys‘ upcoming Classic Giant Godzilla, a supersized version of the first vinyl Godzilla toy sold by Marusan back in the day. At 37 cm (roughly 15 in), it towers over other figures as shown above, alongside the original 1966 issue (on the left), the downsized 1998 Dengeki reissue (on the right), and, uh, a pack of cigarettes.

Diamond Comics is currently soliciting orders for this big Goji during the month of March. You can ask your local comics retailer to order it from the current issue of Previews, or you can find it at online retailers like Westfield Comics, who are selling this behemoth for $175.50. Orders are due by March 23 and the figure is scheduled to ship in August.

Super7 #8 is here! Articles on Godaikins (by Ed Sanford of Robot-Japan), Robo Maru (by Tom Franck), Gatchaman diecast, Maschinen Krieger, and Ultraman kaiju in Argentina are inside. This issue also includes a special report from Japan on, you guessed it, keshigomu, a.k.a. ERASERS. Catch the wave and order it now from Super7’s web site.

Amidst the excitement over the upcoming Soul of Chogokin Gaiking, which is due out this April, Bandai drops a bombshell: there’s a slick new Space Cruiser Yamato toy in the works.

Dengeki Hobby, the big tease of a magazine that revealed the scoop in their April issue, is keeping tight-lipped on the subject. So far, the only hints about what form the product might take are the fact it’s being disclosed in the “Soul of Iron” diecast toy section, a tantalizing blueprint drawn up by Bandai’s design-house Plex, and the names of the project leaders: Inoue and Nakano, the same pair that oversaw the creation of the Soul of Chogokin series.

What’s it all mean? At this point, it’s hard to tell. The blueprints show a design with a removable “skin” that covers an incredibly detailed interior. Soul of Big Scale? Penance for the disappointment fans felt over the Soul of Popinika Yamato? Maybe, maybe not. The design also appears to be modular, meaning it could just as easily be a highly detailed gashapon toy. Suspense killing ya? Dengeki says all will be revealed in their May issue, which isn’t due on stands for another month.

My name is Juan Carlos Azpurua, I’m from Venezuela, South America. I’m new to the
world of japanese robot, I’m focused is american lines like G.I.Joe and Masters of the
Universe. The last year I discover a totally new line of Jumbo Machinders made in
Venezuela by a licensed company called “Famosa” in the late 70′. They made
Gaiking, Mazinger, Daimos, Getter Dragon and a exclusive robot, made with parts
from Gaiking (the body, head and one arm) Daimos (the legs) and Getter Dragon (the
other arm).

You have to remember that Venezuela is not Argentina, Brazil or Mexico.
The production runs here are extremely limited. The populations of those countries is really higher than Venezuela, so the factories here made a lot less items. During the
late 70’s and the early 80’s, a group of Venezuelan companies produced licensed products

from american companies (for example, G.I.Joe and Transformers toys were made and sold by a
company called “Rubiplas,” Masters of the Universe and Princess of Power by
“Rotoplas,” Thundercats by “Unitoys,” etc…). These Venezuelan companies had extremely low production rates, so their items are really tough to find.

The
collecting community in Venezuela is very small. I know a
couple of other collectors with some items, one with a loose Great Mazinger and another
with a loose Getter Dragon, but that’s all. Right now, I have the following items: in my personal
collection I have a loose Great Mazinger, a boxed Gaiking in regular colors, a boxed
Getter Dragon and a mint loose Red Gaiking variant.

For more pictures please see my online photo album!

Ever wanted your very own Tetsujin-28? You may just get your chance.

Vstone, a Japanese company specializing in robot kits for hobbyists, has unveiled a bipedally walking, programmable, and of course fully remote-controllable version of everyone’s favorite big blue guy. Standing at 38cm (roughly 15 inches) tall and weighing 2.5 kilos when assembled, the kit-robot boasts a proprietary locomotion system that Vstone boasts is far smoother and more natural than herky-jerky toys of old. The company will also be offering special “motion downloads” from their website that allow T-28 to take famous poses and make specific actions.

Sounds great? There’s a catch. Vstone will only go ahead with production when they have 200 pre-orders… And the price of each T-28 is a whopping 351,750 yen after taxes (that’s just north of $3,000 U.S. dollars.) No word as to if that price includes a custom-tailored pair of short-shorts ala Shotaro Kaneda…

CM’s Corp has just released pictures for the next 3 Gokins, which are sure to be a hit with fans: a fully transformable and affordable Genesic Gao Gai Gar, another Gao Gai Gar that comes with the Gatling Driver and Stealth Gao II, and, at last, Goldimarg! Prepare to be amazed!