Jollibee kids meal Voltron set

If you were lucky enough to be in the Philippines at the right time, you could walk out of a Jollibee restaurant with a mini Voltron figure! Roughly based on the Toynami Masterpiece Voltron but from from being any kind of Masterpiece. Still, pretty cool.  Check out my review here.

 

Edit 08/07/11: I figured I would update this post. Even though this mold is based on the Toynami Masterpiece mold, Toynami had no part in the making of this. Jollibee basically got a Voltron license and copied Toynami's sculpt.

Mid-Size Lionbot Golion/Voltron knockoff

What I hold here is a rather seldom seen version of Lionbot. Why is it seldom seen if Lionbots are found EVERYWHERE? Well because this is the mid-size version of Lionbot. It is basically identical in proportions to the full-size Lionbot in a small package. Only a couple of things have been sacrificed in this shrinking. One is the size and the other is the lack of bending elbows. Everything else is present- chrome, diecast etc.

Even the layout inside bares a striking resemblance to the Lionbot set which is a copy of the Popy Golion set. The layout is a tad different but it has the same windowed protective lid showing each piece. You will notice that the shield and Blazing Sword is included but you will not find any lion weapons or missiles.

It didn't occur to me to photograph each individual lion, so I only shot him in combined mode. If he looks a tad leaned, that's because one leg is stubborn going in. If I try any harder, I risk ruining the chrome. If you like what you see, good luck finding one cheap, these things go for huge money even though they are knockoffs. I have no clue if they are from the 80's or recent releases. Mine is super minty fresh so it's hard to tell it's age. I love mine and I paid a pretty penny because I'm a hardcore Voltron guy. Hope you found this piece interesting.

Edit 03/07/2011: Wow, I totally forgot I made a video review of this. Well here it is:

Part of my Voltron collection

Ok, so anyone who really really knows me, knows that even though my avatars on robot related sites is Daitarn 3, it is not Daitarn 3 that is my favorite robot. My favorite robot is Voltron. The Voltron show got me into the robot, so I am more a fan of the robot design than I am a fan of the show. In fact I prefer to watch Golion over Voltron anyday. Voltron seems rather childish in its edited form over what Golion offers in its unedited story.

One day on robot-japan.com, someone had posted their collection of Voltron/Golion/Lionbot variants so I thought it would be fun to show of some of what I have. I gathered some of what I have because for me to gather everything I have would take a very very long time. I layed some of the stuff out and took a picture. If this isn't the perfect example of an obsessed Voltron fan, I don't know what is. I have duplicates of everything. I love this figure. I absolutely cannot stand robot animals that turn into robots (like Power Ranger robots) but the creators just made the lions so damn cool that it worked. Oh and it also works for a few other robots like Daltanious.Yes I agree Voltron is rather cheesy looking in some respects,  but I have been obsessed with it since I first saw the show on TV in the 80's and there is no end in sight. I even have a Voltron toothbrush and table cloth. Well enjoy this partial view into my world of Voltron. I will be showing off bits here and there so stay tuned.

Unboxing of Chogokin GE-42 VF-25F Messiah Alto Custom

This is one of those figure I keep stored away because I have no space in my room for it. Well I wanted to open it and take a look at it simply because I was bored. I opened it and then quickly put it away. I held off on transforming it because I surely would not put it away and be forced to shove it into my display case. I've learned to reign myself in when it comes to display pieces so that my display cases don't end up looking so sloppy that it makes my wife embarrased to bring people to the house.

Anyways, the fit finish looks real nice and scores high points for coming in a styrofoam tray. I hope to one day have more space so that I can transform him and display him alongside some of my other Macross figures.

If you can't wait til then, then you can check out the CDX VF-25F review here.

Chogokin Drossel

Never thought you'd see the words Disney and Chogokin in the same sentence? Well you just did. That's because Disney made a few CG animated shorts in Japan about Drossel which is a robotic character in those animated shorts. It's a feminine girly robot but it carries so well into a Chogokin figure. It's absolutely stunning. It carries diecast content in almost all it's entirety.












The gloss white is softly offset by some sharp markings showing off manufacturer logos and whatnot plus some black detail. Has a Stormtrooper feel to it. You would think they would make this figure real short but it's actually a tall figure that comes with various alternate pieces and a nice stand. It's actually quite hard to find now as all initial releases were quickly swiped off shelves. If you can find one, I highly recommend it.











Still not convinced? How bout if I told you it has super sweet LED eyes? And darn bright, like lasers. The switch is hidden inside the head so there is no unsightly switches on the outside. Very clever. Beautiful figure.

Gold Lightan GB-37 Reissue

Here is one of the simplest robots you will ever find. It has a very basic blocky body and is 99% metal. It's a little brick. So what does he turn into? A lighter. Yes a lighter. I know, strange but it's Japanese so that explains a lot. I don't show the transformation here since it literally turns into a block. This figure is a reissue of the original Popy release.

The finish is gold chrome and very nicely done. I absolutely love this figure. It has a certain charm but is not for everyone. It is a proud member of the Rocket Punch Army since his fists shoot off. He also has firing gimmicks elsewhere. You can check out a full review here.

Patlabor Ingram and Griffon Brave Gokin and D-Style figures

Brave Gokin Ingram & Griffon

Some of you may already be familiar with the Patlabor mechs and their figures, but I felt like just pulling these out cause they are just too cool. The Ingram (white robot) I've had for a while now. It's an amazing little diecast robot made by CM's Corp. It is composed mostly of diecast and some plastic parts. The details are amazing and the design is superb. When it was released it was a very pricey figure, but now it can be found relatively cheap. The cockpit opens so you can insert a small PVC figure. The gimmick on this figure is the working LEDs on the shoulders to simulate the lights on a police car. Yeah, this is a Police robot, hence the name Patlabor a mash up of Patrol and labor. Labors are robots that are driven by humans to do tasks normally associated with heavy machinery. Unfortunately, some of those labors go haywire or are manned by criminals so they must be stopped by Patrol Labors..or Patlabors as they are called.

Anyways I also got the Griffon (black robot) yesterday used. I've had another Griffon figure for a while also but that was the Aqua version, this is the flight version. The difference is in the back pack. The flight version has wings. In the anime, this robot is used for evil deeds. It towers over the Patlabor. The gloss black is amazing. It is also almost entirely made of metal. There are no lighting gimmicks but it doesn't need them at all. I forgot to take pictures of the AWESOME opening cockpit. The head swings up and the upper chest opens and lifts up to reveal a little driver inside. Simply cool.

If you are familiar with Kotobukiya model kits, you may already be aware of their super deformed D-Style kits. So far the line consists mostly of Patlabor characters. For this post, I am showing of the first and third release that correspond to the two diecast figures I am showing here.

The Ingram was the first one I built and it was pretty easy. I didn't go crazy painting it since it is partially prepainted and molded in color. I did very slight weathering to it.

I also built the Griffon recently which was also relatively easy to build. Again, no paint, just slight weathering. Really cool pieces both of them. If you collect robots or chogokin and don't have either of these in your collection, you are missing out. You don't have to know anything about them to enjoy them. I HIGHLY recommend the Griffon over the Ingram. It's taller, more detailed and more limited.

That is all for now, if you want to check out full reviews of the CM's Brave Gokin figures, click here for the Ingram or click here for the Griffon.

If you like the D-style kits, click here for the Ingram or click here for the Griffon.