Geoff's Superheroes, Space and other incredible Toys

Jumbo Warriors promotional stickers, Mattel, 1970's

Gelbros J3, Yolanda, Spain, 1980's

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Robot Lance Missiles, Soclaine (Importer - Paris), Taiwan, 1980's

Shrunking heads ? nope... just Jumbo's today ! Take a Great Mazinger from Mattel, give it the treatment, and voilà ! Lots of Grendizer elements to be found also... can you spot them ?

Great Mazinga, made by Fabianplastica for Mattel, Italy, 1978

For all the would-be engineers between us, it is nice to see that beneath each wonderfull mecha design of Go Nagai, there is a very planned structure of how these robots really do work.

Grandizer, Banpresto, 1999, China

Great Mazinger, Banpresto, 1999, China

Mazinger, Banpresto, 1999, China

http://wardo-hayter.tumblr.com/

 

Getter

Boss Robot

Grandizer

 PansonWorks made a serie of adorable figurines of some of my favorite Shoguns. Made by Banpresto (China) in the 2010's... These were originally not sold but could be won as prizes in Japan.

Robocon and Princess

Black and White and regular Mazinger

Somewhere between Acapulco and Mexico city, there is the scrambler unit that was traded in for one of these big hats and a shot of tequila !

Mazinger Z (missing Scrambler) ,?,Mexico, 1980's

Battle damage ?

Mazinga Gashapon, Bandai, 2009, China

Great Mazinga Gashapon, Bandai, 2009, China

Mazinga Gashapon, Bandai, 2009, China

Garada Gashapon, Bandai 2009, China

Boss Robot Gashapon, Bandai, 2009 China

Mazinger

Great Mazinger

Grandizer

 
They are all 3 contemporary chinese, super fragile cheap toys... but hey, they have the merit to go for the best of the best in the Shogun Warrior World ! LED light belly button.

Grandizer, Mattel, Japan, 1976

Raydeen, Mattel, Japan, 1976

Gaiking, Mattel, Japan, 1976

Great Mazinger, Mattel, Japan, 1976

Dragun, Mattel, Japan, 1976

Toros D7, Bandai HG collection, China 2010's

One of Go Nagai's monsters. Basically an old oil container with spikes and legs. Looks scary. And pointy. And lethal...

Boss robot. Bandai HG collection, China, 2010's

Go Nagai needed his comic. And this is it. He shared Mazinger's prime time on tv's all over the world.

Mazinger "pet toy" (no markings), ? 1980's

Sometimes the strange and weird come along the life of a collector. Why did they do it ? Who would give a rubber chew Mazinger to their favorite pet ? The rubber in this case is very thin. Any teeth would have destroyed it in seconds...

So now you know what ex-employees of Bandai, Popy, Bullmark etc. do when they get fired. They copy toys and give them to Rotweilers for destruction !

Great Mazinger, Popy, Japan, 1970's

Go Nagai was, no doubt about it, the father of all Super Robots in Japan. He got us Grandizer (aka Grendizer, Goldorak or Goldrake) Getter Robot, Jeeg, Groizer X, Gaiking etc.

But it is definitely with Mazinger and later Great Mazinger that he got it started. Strangely enough, while this robot was well known in Spain and Italy, where the series aired with astounding succes, in France it came as late second, after "Goldorak" - and was seen there as a pale imitation.

Outside of Europe, it hit a big following in lots of Spanish countries of Central and South America (where it was shown uncut / uncensored). In the States, it aired under the name TRANZOR Z but heavily modified to be "acceptable" by US standarts. (Go Nagai's work was regarded, even in Japan, as controversial / erotic to some point).

 These 2 were bought in Hong Kong. - Gashapon (=free/candy/premium) - type of figurine, but articulated in a quite soft rubber material. I don't have much more information on them. They are completely white/grey - maybe test shots ? (test-shots are toys molded in one color to check for imperfections in the moulding process before going to paint)

Voltes V, Banpresto (?), China, 2010's

Great Mazinger, Banpresto (?), China, 2010's