Clover Seven Daitarn 3 Mini Gokin

Suppose it's like late 70's early 80's and you were a kid in Japan and you loved robots. You want a DX size robot but your parents can't afford it or they just plain don't wanna spend the money. Let's also suppose that maybe you had family visiting or your parents are coming home from a long day at work and they get off the  train station and they wanna pick you up something cool without spending a lot of money. What is one to do?

Well it seems many Japanese toy companies saw that there was an opportunity to sell cheaper version of their toys at places where an adult may grab one to bring home or strategically place them where kids would come across them and beg their parent to buy them. And how about slapping a nice low price to it while still giving kids a quick Gokin fix?

That's exactly what Clover did. So as not to taint the Clover name with cheaper toys or to just plain differentiate different price points, a subsidiary of Clover was created. They called this sub Seven. Popy also did something similar with Victora where they made cheap little diecast figures. The example I have for you today is a case fresh Daitarn 3. Since this does not transform, Seven sold different small sets with Daitarn in Jet mode and another in Tank mode. I believe the fourth set was a small Mach Attacker. For now, I only have this one. I won one of these a while back on eBay for $8 shipped and the seller turned out to be a scammer. So forward a few years later and picked it up from seller redstarrobot for a decent price. Enjoy this little gokin.

What a delightful little box. It has no back, it simply clovers the tray underneath.

Even though the figure is small and meant to be a quick fix for a little child, they still lovingly use a Stryofoam tray which make it look a bit more important. The chrome bits are done very well.

Although there are factory stickers applied, Seven provides a sticker sheet and instructions to bring more life into this figure. No doubt a cost-saving measure.

The colors are completely inaccurate to the robot, but they work. The diecast metal is composed of the white section of the toy. The rest is just a durable type plastic.

Although the figure does not transform, it has steel wheels on it's back. Strange but cool. Another cost saving measure is the hollowing-out of the backs of the arms and legs- no doubt later inspiring Hasbro to do the same on Transfomers.

Vintage Popy Ultraman vinyl

Once in a while I come across some cool little cheap vinyl. Got these guys for $20. Don't know the year but the condition and sculpt points towards vintage. I love the look of Japanese vinyl. It has a cool shiny look to it that I dont find in modern chinese Bandai vinyl. My daugter is going to go crazy when she sees these on display!

Some collectors my scoff at the idea of picking up figures in this condition, but I actually don't mind. This figure shows it was lovingly played with by a child who probably used his imagination to pretend he was fighting some huge Kaiju. This figure is about 5.5"

The back shows the Popy logo and "JAPAN" and what I can only assume is copyright info.

This is the other figure that came in the lot. It's a bit smaller, possibly 4.5". It is also well played with but not abused.

This figure also states Popy Japan.

If anyone can provide more info on these, that would be great.

99% Diecast Colombian made Mazinger Z chogokin robot figure

My friend Leonardo had mentioned at some point that he was able to cast diecast pieces and showed me this little project of his. He took an old plastic Mazinger Z figure, cast diecast parts out of it and created this work of art. The fists were sculpted by local Colombian artisans and the Scrander was scratch built. The Scrander also has diecast parts by the way. The figure is completely diecast except for the scrander wings which are Acrylic.

The original figure did not have joints, so these had to be fabricated. The hole in the back was also made into the mold to hold the Scrander. Instead of using regular paint, the paint on this is a very strong resistant coating used in heavy duty manufacturing. The face is hand painted giving it a great vintage look.

During a visit to Colombia, I got to handle this wonderful figure. When I was about to leave for the night, Leo gave me this as a gift and I freaked! From the moment I got this to the moment it landed with me in the US, it endured being tossed around car door pockets, TSA handling, jean pockets and other stuff. In the end it was OK and now being taken care of like all other one of a kind art.

Amazing.

Custom Scrander

One of a kind. Thanks Leo!

Mark Gyakuten-Oh Pocket Gokin

This is a cool little diecast that serves as a reminder of the olden days of Super Robot toys. Simple but nice.

The artwork alone is worth the price of entry, which isn't much by the way. Very colorful and happy.

The back is not as interesting but colorful nonetheless.

Gyakuten-Oh comes in a teeny Styrofoam tray with accessories at his side.

Here is a size comparison with a common Transformers Constructicon.

He stands very stoic and confident.

The back is nothing much to look at.

His head is not chrome in the anime, but the designers felt it was a good idea for the toy. Color accuracy is of no importance in this toy.

The plain back can be made a bit more interesting by installing the included chrome wingset.

The only Included weapon is this big blade.

New Vintage toy videos up on YouTube RocketPunchArmy channel

I've been bombarding my YouTube channel with reviews of some affordable vintage stuff. I've also done a review for each and every one. Check out the pictorials coming soon here on my blog and make sure to also check out the videos for each one.

From L to R: Windam, Sankan-Oh, MR-18, VF-1S, Gyakuten Oh, Bull Ceasar

Bandai 1991 Windam Vinyl Review:

Takatoku Sankan-Oh Diecast Review:

Popy Machine Robo MR-18 (Gobots Road Ranger):

Macres VF-1S Valkyrie (Macross VF-1S KO):

Mark Gyakuten-Oh Pocket Gokin:

Marushin Takemi Blocker Machine Blaster Bull Ceasar:

Chogokin Summit 2012

Back in late August I had the pleasure of attending the 2012 Chogokin Summit. I had tons of fun there and got rid of a few non-essential pieces of my collection. Met really cool people as well as seeing the usual crowd. If you haven't checked out the video I did for collectiondx.com, make sure you check it out. It's got some looks at some of the toys there as well as some interviews with the CDX crew.

VINTAGE JAPANESE ULTRAMAN SHOOTER MOC

VINTAGE JAPANESE ULTRAMAN SHOOTER MOC.   Got this bad boy on eBay. Pretty strange but a piece of Ultraman history.

The packaging is simple. Box art is not the best but fits the vibe. This was released in a time where it was OK to blind your friends.

Apparently, there are pellets included. I am not sure if they are metal or plastic. They kind of sound metal to me. Of course I could open the package, but I think this is one of those things that becomes completely worthless and loses 100% of its charm once it's open. It's probably a piece of crap toy. The blue part seems to be the wrist band.

Here is the actual shooter portion of the toy. It looks pretty bad. I'm wondering how much play value this thing has. Did anyone in Japan that owned this play with it for more than two minutes before realizing they wasted their life away fiddling with this? Or is it more pathetic to be the person who buys this many decades later only to leave it in the package? You know you want one.

Poor man's Hot Toys Bruce Lee 1/6 figure

I have plans to own a Hot Toys Bruce Lee figure. However, they are pretty darn expensive. I am not a big 1/6 collector so $200+ for a figure seems like a lot to me. That's high-end Gokin territory. Anyways, I've devised a plan to piece together my own Bruce Lee figure. This way, it will be done to my liking and to my wallet's. For example, I won this Hot Toys head from eBay for $5.00 shipped. It is a great sculpt that comes from the Bruce Lee in Causal wear release. I would have preferred him not smiling but for $5 bucks I wont complain. eBay has tons of parts to piece this guy together. I have to find a body and some clothes...and hands and accessories. In the end it should be cheaper than buying the set. I will keep this project updated. For now the head resides on my little Megatron figure.

Recent hauls

 Previous to and during my 2 week vacation, the boxes began to pile up at my house. Here's a bit of what I have in store for the future. Some may make it here and some may not.

• Robot Spirits Doraemon
• Sideshow Shadow Stormtrooper
• Ultraman toy shooter
• Super Robot Chogokin Dai Guard
• Tamashii SPEC Tekkaman and Pegas
• Ultraman DVD full original series
• Golgo 13 #2 and #3
• Transformers RTS Lugnut
• Transformers RTS Grapple
• Charlie Brown Medicom Vinyl
• Nintendo Baby Mario Vinyl
• RC Gyro Helicopter
• Air Hogs Hyper Actives mini RC car
• Yamato 1/60 Maximillian Valkyrie
• Diaclone Condor
• Bootleg Diaclone Condor
• TRU Exclusive G1 Soundwave

During my stay I received what I consider to be one of the absolute coolest pieces in my collection. I'll give you a hint: It's a robot and it's heavy. You'll have to stay tuned to check it out!

Ultraman GA-95 Chogokin

A diecast Ultraman...need I say much more? Even thought this one is in good shape, it's rather loose so exciting poses are out of the question...well as exciting as a toy from the 70's could pull off. I love it all the same.

He comes with three little rubber Kaiju figures that are much smaller than him.

Sort of a signature move...the best I could do without him flopping around.

He looks so vintagey. I wish I could tighten his joints but they are riveted.

I've been waiting a long time to get this guy into my collection. Now I have him. Yayyyy.