Popy Gordian Warrior sofubi set
Gordian Warrior (闘士ゴーディアン ?) was a popular anime series aired in 1979 to 1981 in Japan. It is also referred to as Champion of Gordian or Gardian.
Gordian was the first DX Chogokin/Godaikin I had as a kid, therefore I’ve always had a strong affinity for this character. It would be safe to say that I’ve been pining over ol’ Gordian since about 1981. It was the whole matryoshka doll gimmick that always had me really fascinated. There was absolutely nothing around that you could compare it to at the time. I recall my grandfather being totally fascinated by the design and functionality. I will never forget how astounded he was that us “kids” had such amazing toys to play with. After all, growing up in post WWI Europe he widdled his fucking toys out of wood. His interest alone just solidified the fact that Gordian was something special. Totally revolutionary..
Gordian vinyls.. Not so much.
Anyway.. Gordian, like many of shows I watched growing up (God Mars, Sunvulcan, Tetsujin28, Dunbine, Dynaman etc), is definitely a major area of my collecting focus. I’m now slowly but surely collecting anything and everything associated with each character/show, no mater how trivial. For example, I happen to own several Tetsujin 28 beach balls, a God Mars pencil box, Dunbine chopsticks and tin Gordian rice boxes. Sad but true. You really should see what I can do with a beach ball a pencil box and a set of chopsticks. It’s AMAZING I tell you!
So, after a year or so of compulsively searching I finally scored the Popy Chogokin Clint GB-13, and in January Alen broke me off the Popy Pla DX Gordian (known as the crappiest Popy toy of all time), so the Gordian bender was totally on. It was go time.
Obviously, I just had to complete the circle with these bad boys..
The full set:
The best part about amassing everything in each series for me is scoring the vinyls. They SUCK!! They REALLY suck. But, they suck in a such a very good way. As much as “sucking” can be good.. These Gordian vinyls are surprisingly far more well done than the vinyl representations of the aforementioned characters/shows from the same time period. With the exception of the Popy Tetsujin “BIG” vinyl, I would venture to say that these vinyls, Garbin especially, are some of Popy’s best super robot vinyl designs and delivery.
Garbin:
Delinger:
Protteser:
Daigo Otaki:
Back sides for good measure:
Overall, these are most likely pretty underwhelming to the average gokin collector who is pimping the DX or the ST Chogokin versions of these characters. They don’t “do” anything, like combine. What they do “DO”, is emit the “funk”. They contain that aesthetic bad-assness that keeps me coming back for more.. Over and over and year after year, I’m constantly finding new and exciting representations of my favorite super robot characters in sofubi form.
Love them or hate them, you’ve got to admit they’ve got charm. These vinyls might not be an example of Popy’s finest hour, but I’m certianly not apologizing for them and neither should you. Call it a guilty pleasure.. Indulge at your own risk.
