Tankbot

This here is Tankbot. He's actually a bootleg of Sankan-Oh that turns into a tank! Hes also got a huge erection which you will see on video. Review coming soon

Korean Bootleg: Bican Robot

I don't remember when or why I bought this, mostly likely an eBay impulse buy, but it's an interesting piece. Korean toys, at least bootleg ones are a strange bunch. They take a nice box with cool artwork, a Styrofoam tray, then stick the cheapest toy possible inside of it. And yet it's still cool somehow. I think the box is what really gives the toy it's charm. The toy on it's own, let's say you find it loose in some toy lot, ends up just being a horrid piece. It's just slightly above being party favor quality.

The piece I have for you guys today, is called Bican Robot made by a company unknown to me. It's mostly laid out in Korean so I have no clue what's going on. What I do know is that it's a bootleg of Baikanfu which is a nesting robot. So you have the outer robot, then you have a secondary inner robot called Kenryu. Then nestled inside of Kenryu is Rom Stoll. Yes, this is similar to Gordian/Gardian, another nesting robot. This toy however, does not have Kenryu built in. They pretty much bypass him and give you a teeny Rom Stoll.

The front of the box is actually pretty cool and very 80's. See the window where Bican is peeking through? That's actually cut out by hand! You can see the scoring marks from a pen and parts where they overcut.

The artwork on the back is awesome. Probably the best part of owning this. Notice how colorful Bican Robot is. Korean kids must have been very pissed onced they opened the box.

WTF? What happened to the very colorful robot depicted on the front of the box?!! That's what I meant before about Korean kids being pissed. There are two different plastics used. White and Blue. Bican takes up

Bican stands about 4" tall, not sure exactly. The amount of time required to measure isn't worth my time on something of this quality. Rom Stoll is there just chillin'.

Seeing as the front of the figure is boring, the back is even more so.

They've gone ahead and skipped the whole part where Rom Stoll nests inside of Kenryu that nests inside of Baikanfu. Although the rest of the toy design would give the impression that other body panels open up for fitment of another robot, only Rom Stoll is included... oh and nothing else really opens up, they are fake hinges on the sides of the legs.

Here is Bican with his included weapons. By the way, this is the actual color of Bican Robot, not the yellow the other pictures lead you to believe. I just had the white balance set up wrong.

I still like this piece regardless of how horrible it is.

KO MP-14 Red Alert

You guys may have already seen my post and video about the MP-12 Lambor Sideswipe. I've also uploaded a video for it. No photos yet, but here's some video action in the meantime.

Comic Con Voltron Haul- Korean Diecast? New Lionbot box Variant?

I went to Comic Con to do coverage for CollectionDX.com. I didn't have any plans to buy anything but of course I spent a few bucks there...more than I could ever imagine. Aside from dumping a load of cash on Gunpla (which I never thought I'd start up again) I also came across some exciting Voltron items.

JoshB of CDX spotted these in a corner and my traction beam was activated.

Now here's the thing that makes this find special:
- The Korean Set had DIECAST lions in it (Korean sets are all plastic)
- The Trendmasters set happened to not even be a Trendmasters set- it was a variant LIONBOT box!
- These belonged to the owner of Media-Blasters, the makers of the Voltron DVD and they had a very important role in the making of the DVDs!

OK, I nerded way too much as is evident in the video I made for CDX. Read the full story by checking out the article I did for CollectionDX.

If you want an in depth look at the two sets, check out this video:

So happy...

...happy like a little girl.

Korean Daitarn 3 SUPER TITAN bootleg robot figure

This is one of those things I bid on just to bid on and well because it's a friggin' Daitarn 3! A pretty bad one at that but I love the artwork. That alone was worth the price. The figure is made out of questionable plastic but it seems pretty sturdy. The colors are way off and pieces do not fit together well. Another quirky Korean bootleg.

The tray is actually a very thick plastic

Micro Change Cassette Condor and Micro Cassette Robot Condor

Today I have the Micro Change Condor which was part of the Microman series of toys. The figures in this line were based off robots that could turn into normal everyday objects. In this case, a robot condor would turn into a cassette which was all the rage back in the day with the Walkman and all. It was released by Takara at the time and of course Taiwan wasted no time in giving the less fortunate kids a chance to own their own bootleg version. If you are thinking to yourself that these look familiar, well then you must be thinking about Laserbeak. The charming little robotic bird that resides in Soundwave. I never owned either of these as a kid, however I did have the Taiwan version of Jaguar (Ravage). Let's take a look at these, shall we?

The Takara version is on the left and the Taiwan version is off to the right. Notice that at first glance, they are very similar in box design. Look closely and you'll notice the Taiwan version is in english and missing trademarks and company logos.

The back is also very similar with the exception of the english and the removal of the Microman figure photos and Takara logo. Notice the lower right hand corner of the Taiwan version, it has a "#1" hand-written on it. I have another Taiwan version and it is missing this number. Probably done at retail or by the previous owner.

Here they are out of the package and in their vacuum-formed trays. The Takara version on the left seems to have sharper molding on the tray. You'll also notice it has a cassette insert and an instruction booklet. The Taiwan originally did have an insert which was lost over the years, however neither of my Taiwan versions have instructions. I do not know if they ever did. Maybe someone can verify this. They both feature metal decals with cassette detailing. The original says "Takara" and the bootleg says "Micro Cassette". The chrome appears brighter on the Takara although the chrome seems durable on the bootleg.

Side by side you will see they are almost identical. The molding is clean on both. The Takara version features a bright red paint while the Taiwan version has a darker red. The Taiwan version seems to have a thinner coat of paint because it thins down on the panel lines. Surprisingly, the Taiwan version seems to have sharper diecast (red parts) molding although it does show larger gaps between the metal and plastic.

That's it folks, in the tired state that I was during the shoot, I forgot to snap them together in their robot Condor form. Probably a good thing as I would have probably broken something.

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!

Space Sheriff Metal Hero figure

I ran across this in a for sale section for $8 so I had to have it. It comes with no box, just styrofoam. It's missing his weapons, but the cool part is that the light function still works! Bandai sold this in the US under a different name too. I'll show you guys that figure too which I picked up at the 2011 Summit in a later post. This figure features a diecast build and chrome finish. It truly is a nice figure although I believe this is a bootleg because it looks different than my Bandai version and there are no manufacturer stampings anywhere on the figure.

Missing sword and gun...oh and box. That rectangular styro block across his shins is custom made by me :)

Sexy

It's a bit hard to see, but his light up feature is activated in this photo. The LEDs are in his visor and in his chest.

Today is Dairugger/Vehicle Voltron Day!

I know I showed you guys the Jumbo Vehicle Voltron already, but I realized that I had three Vehicle Voltron toys delivered the same week so it was cause for celebration. If you told me a year ago that it was possible to get three different new Dairugger releases at a time, I would think you're crazy. You've already seen the Jumbo, here are the other two- The Toynami Voltron and the bootleg Dairugger VX! Video review coming soon!

Toynami 9" Vehicle Voltron Vol. 03

Chinese 9" bootleg Dairugger XV

2011 Chogokin Summit 08/20

Beverly, MA- So it was time once again to head over to the Chogokin Summit. It is a gathering of all sorts of robot/Japanese character fans to get together, make new friends and of course check out and buy some really cool stuff at really cool prices. No money? No problem, bring some stuff to trade. Unfortunately for me, I got to the tailgate party late at CDX headquarters because there was like 92 accidents on the way there. Took me almost 8 hours to do a 3.5 hour ride...yeah. So next morning we all headed out to pick up some stuff, have breakfast and then proceeded to the Summit. We got there nice and early before anything was really set up. We put up some tents, set up tables and chairs and the like. Since I was helping out Josh from CDX, I got a firsthand glimpse of stuff he was going to be selling and trading, so I started mentally tagging everything which as it turns out becomes nearly impossible on only 3 hours of sleep in two days. The pieces there ranged from old to new. It was real cool seeing friends and making new ones. If you ever have the chance to make it to one, I highly recommend it. So here are some shots of the fun that was had.

Incubot stuff for sale. I snagged me a white Shiroi Voltron USB (Bottom Left) All funds from the White USB bots go to help Japan.

Nice...

This is the other side of the Incubot table. There was some really cool stuff in here.

CDX Table. Josh is a great guy and gave me some good deals on some stuff he didn't need anymore.

a 1/60 scale Astro Plan fighter! Much nicer than I expected it to be. Not up to Yamato Valkyrie standards but these definitely were inspired by them.

This bot is so strange yet so cool.

Anyone have some spare parts?

I hope I never catch the vintage vinyl bug..there is just WAY too much stuff out there.

Star Wars cards!

Gin Gin Foe-Gokin custom paint.

You think this is a production toy? Guess again. This and the following other figures are one-offs! Hand prepped and painted. AWESOME.

Incubot Nekosaur Summit 2011 Exclusive Vinyl. $60, amazing finish by Matt Walker of Dead Presidents fame.

Here is Matt Walker showing off the awesomeness of his line of Monster Kolor spray paints to customize you jumbos and vinyls. The pictures do not do these pictures justice AT ALL.

Check out the hand drawn pin-stripes! The sparkle needs to be seen in person to be appreciated.

Mason's famous bacon fat burgers...I ALWAYS miss out on these. Not this year!

I'm sure there were a few droolings around this guy.

All three wonderful one-off figures side by side plus a little resin prototype.

Gin Gin Foe-Gokins by BrownNoize Productions.

Caught somewhere in time!

Baby Gin Gins

Sanjeev, the man behind the Brown Noize.

Bootleg Starscream. Just oen of the things I meant to buy but forgot all about in the end.

Bootleg Dinobot with wings. Fell asleep and someone else bought it.

These things are analog!

MIB Jetfire with no yellowing on plastic

Very rare Godaikin stand

Cool table

Nice little brown Tetsujin vinyl.

A picture a couple of hours before it became mine.

See that little Irongear behind Combattler on the left? Been on a massive search for that. Didn't notice it there for sale and missed out on owning it for $10. Darn

Nice little Ultraman Vinyl. Now part of my collection.

Rockbat

The only toy I had with me to show. Picked it up on the way up.

Here you can see the Hasbro on the left and the Takara version on the right. Which do you like more?

The header card on this says Voltron on the back. The toy is a Mazinga Z. Apparently, they also made a Voltron vinyl.

Yamato 1/60 Fire Valkyrie. Amazing little thing.

Yamato Fire Valkyrie 1/60

Isn't this just cool?

Diaclone of what would eventually become Devastator

UFO Grendizer and his Spazer

Old Japanese Pachinko machine

Something tells me this is transformed wrong. Maybe.

I paid $7 for one of these many many years ago..... $7!!!! I swapped a price sticker hehe. I win.

My Summit 2011 haul plus Hasbro Rodimus and Thundercats figures I picked up on the way up.

In the end I got most of what I was eyeballing. Of course in all the craziness, I also missed out on some cool deals but one can only buy so much, I may have gotten too much, but I will be entertained for quite a while. One thing I wish I would have noticed was a little plastic Iron Gear figure which I've been going crazy looking for. It sold for 10 bucks. One day it will be mine...MWAHAHAHA.