CASSETTE MAN ! Taiwan Cassett Man bootleg (Soundwave)

Ahh, there is nothing like a good ol' 80's Taiwan bootleg. Not all 80's Taiwan bootlegs were good, but many that were copies of existing Japanese toys. I'm sure we've all had some type of Taiwan version toy. One of my favorites is Daitarn 3 which borders on not really being a bootleg since it's licensed by Sunrise. We've also got the Godtron, Godbot, Lionbot and loads more. One that I would see as a kid was Cassette Man. I remember seeing these alongside Shockwave and Megatron bootlegs. I wasn't into them much because these were available before the Transformers craze started. The reason Transformers bootlegs were available before Transformers existed is because they weren;t bootlegged off of Transformers. They were bootlegs of Diaclone/Micro Change toys from Takara Japan and other toys. Sort of like how Lionbot was around before the Matchbox Voltron came out. This all cause me confusion since there was no internet to teach me the origins of these toys.

Years later I now have in my possession a Taiwan Cassette Man. I got it on eBay where it was being sold for about $130 with a "Make offer" I went the lowball route since I was broke and this is a bootleg...the offer was accepted. Worst that could happen is my offer being declined. It is bootlegged off of the Takara Micro Change Cassette Man. The box has seen better days and the Jaguar cassette robot is missing but the rest of the contents have been unmolested by small grubby hands. I made a video of this figure in which I transformed it for the first time in it's life. Although I didn't capture the transformation on video, you sort of witness the devirginizing of a toy.

It came with everything you see here except Jaguar. This Jaguar is actually a G1 Ravage filling in. Everything else was intact and unused.

This is how Cassette Man comes out of his box. He's an old-school cassette recorder. Back form the days when micro cassettes were considered high-tech. Notice the MC-10 markings just like his Takara version. They copied everything except "Takara". The included cassette is not even a cassette at all. It is a cardboard filler. I almost got excited thinking it was a Micros figure (Rumble/Frenzy).

It is actually well done, the feet and joints remain diecast just like the original.

Here he is next to a G1 Soundwave.

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.

Takatoku Cyborg 009 Joe Shimamura gokin

This is a neat little gokin that I unfortunately knew nothing about before I shot it for this post so I missed out on showing you guys a cool little gimmick.

Here you can see the gimmicks on the back of the box.

He comes with a little catalog, missile baggie and spring-loaded gun for eye-popping action.

You will notice the "buttons" on his chest looks like a separate piece of the chest. That's because they are. The chest flips down to reveal a cyborg inner chest that shoots missiles! Awesome. Not awesome is that I didn't realize it when I took the pics. You can see the chest gimmick on the back of the box.

I thought it would not be my cup of tea, but I enjoyed it. Look at it's excellent unplayed-with condition. Some Japanese kid missed out.