Arii’s 1/100 scale Regult Battle Pod from the Super Dimensional Fortress Macross TV Series is a great example. Manufactured and designed in 1982 this kit is one of the better kits from the line that builds up to a great representation of our favorite two-legged cannon fodder monster, although not without some minor faults.

Regult Arii 1/100

Model kits have an unusual connection with toy collectors. Usually, they are bypassed and forgotten by toy collectors, as most do not have the skill to build the kits leaving some great subjects that have been represented in sprue sadly left behind and under represented.

Arii’s 1980’s Macross line is a perfect example. Some great subjects were injected into plastic model kits but because many of the kits in the line that were produced were less than satisfactory the entire line has had a bad reputation over the years, even though there are few well done gems in the line.

Arii’s 1/100 scale Regult Battle Pod from the Super Dimensional Fortress Macross TV Series is a great example. Manufactured and designed in 1982 this kit is one of the better kits from the line that builds up to a great representation of our favorite two-legged cannon fodder monster, although not without some minor faults.

Arii’s Regult kit includes: 2x off white sprue, 1x black rubber polycaps, 1x instruction, 1x promotional flyer, 1x sheet of decals, 1x Glue. No options are supplied. The skill level is moderate to advanced due to the fragility of the legs and paint masking.

According to Macross World this kit is a rare kit due to some quality issues with the upper leg joints. I picked up this kit about 7 years ago at an antique store in New Mexico for $14.00. I just happen to luck out when I saw it at a vendor booth with an “all items 50% off“ sign. This was good as the original $28.00 asking price was a bit overpriced. Today, expect to pay from $8.00 to $18.00 for these kits.

As with many of the early 1980’s Macross oil painted toy and model kit box art, this Regult box art is fantastic and first rate and really captures the spirit, realism and mystery of what I love about Macross to this day. The downside, and typical of the era, is that the model kit itself is not represented on the box top or sides, but in this case you are getting a decent kit.

The kit itself is a straightforward build, but there are some things you should be aware of. I was surprised to see so much flash on this kit but considering that these Macross kits out produced even the landmark Gundam 0079 from three years earlier shows the popularity of these kits and I am sure that the molds were run down. Some parts clean up are necessary for the parts to fit correctly, especially the rear facing cannons array on the top of the Regult.

Great care is needed when building up the upper leg area. Very much if you accidently drop even one tiny drop of glue in the wrong area forget it, it’s over. Make sure all the seams are filled properly before gluing those upper leg parts together. But if you take your time you should have no problem. I have read that the upper legs were redesigned in Arii’s later Regult kits, but as I do not own any of these later kits, I cannot comment on how they were redesigned.

Also the designers of these kits were more focused on playability of the kit after it is finished. They designed it so moveable joint parts are permanently joined together and cannot be taken apart. Since this kit was for display only I opted to leave those parts off for ease of painting at a later stage. Keep in mind this does not affect the pose ability of the kit after one is finished with the kit.

The six-gun cannons present a few problems, the major one being that two larger cannons are a bit awkward and thick for the scale, as the cannon barrel holes should be filed down to look more scaled. If you have the skill, new cannons could be lathed out of aluminum for a better look. The heels were also open so I boxed them so they can look solid. You might want to box in the toes as well which was something I was planning to do but I thought I did not have the right resources. It was not until I was nearly finished when I realized I did have the right book with the proper info. I will build up these details on the next Regult I build.

The body is three parts, the front, back and the bottom cap. I purposely left the bottom cap off until final assembly so I can put all the cannon parts in after I was through painting and decaling. My biggest complaint is how the jet nozzles are designed to be assembled together. Instead of having a bottom and top half the parts are split down the middle leaving a near impossible seam to fill. Filling the deep seam not only destroys the detail around it, but also destroys the shape of the nozzle in general and demands a lot of reshaping for the part to look right.

Painting this kit is where one needs to deliver, as all the painting details are no joke and quite intricate. This is not like your current Systeminjection multi-color sprue Bandai kit, this kit is molded in one color, off white and every detail needs to be masked and painted. I painted the kit with Tamiya and other than the light blue, which needed to be mixed, all the other colors were straight out of the bottle. Honestly, give yourself about a week to paint this little monster as there are so many small details involved and they just don’t paint themselves!

I sprayed a Testor’s gloss coat and applied the decals. I accidently dropped the entire sheet into water bowl so I had a limited time to quickly apply all the decals. Of what I can see the decals went on well but typical of the Arii decals, the instructions only tell you where to about six of the 25 decals provided. Thankfully Macross World saved me again and I was able to use their resources to place the other decals on the kit.

After a spraying a Testor’s flat coat, I applied a mix of black and burnt sienna oil paints for the weathering and finished it off with a silver color pencil to represent chips in the paint.

My other main issue with this kit is the scale. Since we here at CollectionDX already discussed scaling issues with some of the Macross vehicles here, there is no need to open a sore wound. But I am going to say its too small especially if you compare it to Imai’s 1/100 scale of Captain Kamujin Zentradi Armored Space suit, which I feel, is scaled correctly. I know the pilot has a snug fit in the Regult but there is no way the Kamujin kit would fit inside this Regult kit or fit through the hatch in the back. Also viewing the kit from the back, the Regult body looks squashed especially compared to Revoltech’s Regult.

Besides the jet nozzles parts and some scaling issues this kit builds up into an impressive model kit and stands out from the self amongst my other Macross toys and models. The best part about this kit is that it is one of the few representations of the Regult in any form and accordingly it is great to have an item few people have in their collections to display. The pose ability of the kit is quite good, with upper leg and waist pivot and bendable knees and toes and positional jet nozzles.

Again I suggest this kit to moderate to advanced builders due to the paint masking and upper leg fragility but if you take your time with the finish and parts you will be rewarded with a beautiful representation of a classic Macross vehicle.

©2009 Article and pictures Leonardo Flores and CollectionDX.

It is a cool toy on its own, but upon researching this I gained a greater insight to the culture surrounding the 80s robot boom when every company was scrambling to bring competitors to Transformers to the market.

The XA Fighter Robot is a bootleg of the Clover "Basic Fundamental" Xabungle, originally released in 1982.

The toy is a sturdy diecast gokin and it comes in a very 80s box. The black cardboard box features a cellophane window that can display the figure. Oddly though, the toy comes packed with a styrofoam cover, so by default all you see is a white styro cover. Removing the cover and placing it behind ensures proper display.

The box features other toys released in the line. Together they are called simply space robots, but their Americanized names gives a clue to their origins:

• XA Fighter Robot - Xabungle
• Aura Battle Robot - Aura Battler Dunbine
• Space Guard Robot - Daiyoja Basic Fundamental
• Astro Walker Robot - Walker Machine Gallia

This toy is credited to a toy company named Alps, who is most widely known for Tin toys. Alps (Shojo Ltd) is a Japanese company founded in 1948, and still exists in some fashion today.

Although they stopped making tin, the business continued in toys and other merchandise. Clover, the toy company responsible for the original Xabungle toys, went out of business in 1983. It is likely that Alps acquired the molds for these toys when Clover went out of business. On the back of the toy, it is still clearly marked "made in Japan" but the Clover markings are blocked out. Considering the massive amount of bootlegs of Clover Xabungle toys that came out after the companies demise, this idea is not so far fetched.

Alps supposedly stopped making toys in the 70s to focus on consumer and industrial electronics, but this toy shows that they had at least some hand in toys during the 80s transformers boom. Alps Toys of America Inc. was incorporated in California in 1981, but has since disbanded. Alps is the parent company of Alpine, the car stereo maker.

Enough of the history lesson.

They toy is just about the same as its original counterpart, with a few minor differences. There is the aforementioned blocking out of the clover copyright info on the toy, and the reflective gold sticker on the chest is slightly different. The biggest change is likely due to safety concerns for the US market - the fists are glued on. Otherwise, its the same toy.

The XA fighter robot has a considerable amount of diecast, specifically in the lower legs and the torso.

Much like most toys of the day - articulation is almost non - existent. The arms can move but that's about it. The toy is not without gimmicks though.

The feet have metal rollers underneath, amd there are three other sets of wheels on the toy. As we all know, the original Xabungle transforms into a truck and trailer, but this being the mid-priced model, it doesn't really transform. Parts of it look like it should, but my guess this is just to re-enact the transformation sequence.

For example, the white covers on the legs can close, but the legs do not collapse. Nor does the toy separate into two sections. The wheels on the hips can move, and the whole assembly can turn around. Thee arms can go up and over the head but cannot meet in the middle. The wings on the back do close, but the whole top section needs to be able to rotate around but it does not. The head can even fold into the chest when you open the door but there's nothing to replace it. These are not failings of the bootleg - this is how the actual toy was designed. Perhaps they had grander plans but weren't able to execute them because of price.

The toy comes with all of the accessories that the original had - a gun and missile launcher. The missile launcher is the same one included with the Clover Dunbine toy of the same size.

The Basic Fundamental Clover Xabungle has been bootlegged dozens of times, but this is one of the best ones out there. It is a cool toy on its own, but upon researching this I gained a greater insight to the culture surrounding the 80s robot boom when every company was scrambling to bring competitors to Transformers to the market. Its a topic that continues to fascinate me as my collecting scope continues to expand.

Little. Metal. Different.

I admit it, I went through a Xabungle phase. It's ok, it happens to everyone at some point. What can I say, it was college, I was experimental.

This toy was made by a Japanese toy company called Seven. Seven made mostly cheap toys of licensed characters.

Although they were probably cheap in price, they were actually sometimes nicely done. Take this Xabungle for instance.

The box is super nice, with die-cut windows, styrofoam tray, and even a little card that shows through the window.

Xabungle is only a few inches tall, but the body and legs are diecast metal.

There's articulation at the head, arms and the wings. That's it.

Perhaps as a child I would have thought this toy sucked. And as a toy, I guess it fails. But as a collector i think its a cool oddity to add to your collection. I love the fact that these little things that were meant as cheap throwaway toys were made with such great materials and great packaging.

Little. Metal. Different.

You know I love Dairugger, and you know I love clear toys. Well, like a match made in heaven its the Mechaclear Dairugger XV.

You know I love Dairugger, and you know I love clear toys. Well, like a match made in heaven its the Mechaclear Dairugger XV.

The Mechaclear series of toys were kind of deluxe versions of the cheap little train station toys that companies like Seven and Victora sold. These come in nicer boxes than the regular toys, and well.. they are clear! I'm not sure how many were in the series, but there was also a Godmars made.

Dairugger is made of chromed metal parts encased inside of a translucent shell. The toy can actually come apart into several different sections, much like the original character, although this is a function of the mecha clear series.

Each limb connects to the body at a peg and hole joint, but the peg has a bit of black rubber to provide friction around the edges. The leg parts can actually be split open so you can handle the chrome pieces inside.

Articulation is limited to the head, arms and legs. No accessories are included, and the sword and shoulder propellers are omitted from this toy.

The toy shares a mold with the MechaGold Dairugger XV (To be reviewed). In fact, there have been crossovers between the toy where the MechaGold toy has had some limbs replaced with clear limbs. In total, you have the following variations:

• MechaClear
• MechaGold
• MechaGold Bootleg (w/sword and propellers)
• MechaGold with clear Right Arm and Left Leg
• MechaGold with clear Left Arm and Right Leg

The original toy is cool as hell. When you had the old one, you knew it was destined to do more. When those fists came unglued, you knew they were supposed to fire.

In this version, they did. And it did a whole lot more.

This may look like that small Voltron you had as a kid, but it's not. This is the real deal - the GB-73 ST Dairugger XV that the Matchbox Vehicle Voltron was based off of.

In the 80s it was not uncommon for American toy companies to license Japanese properties and bring over their toys. But due to some kid choking on a Battlestar Galactica missile, we had all these safety rules now which meant any cool Japanese toy brought over was going to be instantly neutered.

The original toy is cool as hell. When you had the old one, you knew it was destined to do more. When those fists came unglued, you knew they were supposed to fire.

In this version, they did. And it did a whole lot more.

The ST Dairugger XV shares a lot of parts with its bastard Americanized cousin, but there's a lot different.

The box is a beautiful Popy style box with fantastic illustrations all around. The toy comes packed in a styrofoam tray.

The chest is the same, and the US version still bears the Popy logo on the back.

The hands now shoot, and the toy comes with an extra set of hands. Each had can be placed in two positions.

This version also includes a sword!

The legs on this version have built in missile launchers, a feature never even hinted at with the original. The lower legs are diecast metal, with plastic car feet with rolling wheels.

The ST Dairugger XV can be had for pretty cheap, compared to other vintage gokin. If you had the original as a youth you owe it to yourself to get one of these.

With the impending release of Waves new Destroid model kits I thought I would go back and revisit an old favorite and reevaluate the 1/100 Destroid Defender "Angel Face" kit and see if our little fork-toed friend still holds up to today’s modeling standards.

Destroid Defender "Angel Face" 1/100 Arii

The Destroid Defender was one of five different styles of non-variable battle robots that were used throughout the 1982 anime series Super Dimensional Fortress Macross. The Destroid Defender was very much a walking anti-aircraft gun platform, armed with four cannons and operated by a single driver. Although they heroically put up a good fight against the Zentradi, the slow moving and bulky Destroids usually became one of the series “cannon fodder” mechas. Regardless, they are affectionately remembered and have a cult following by Macross fans.

I have always concluded the Arii’s 1/100 Destroid model kits from Macross were much better tooled and sculpted than the Valkyrie kits from the same line. With the impending release of Waves new Destroid model kits I thought I would go back and revisit an old favorite and reevaluate the 1/100 Destroid Defender kit and see if it still holds up to today’s modeling standards.

I had only build Imai excellent 1/72 Destroid Defender model kit when I was younger, and missed out on building Arii’s 1/100 Defender kit. I picked up my Defender from a dealer at Macross Con ’08 for $5.00, but they have been reissued periodically since they were originally released back in 1982 and can still be found under $10.00. This kit is comes in a reissue box from the 1990’s and although box art looks decent, I definitely prefer the original oil painting style illustrated boxes from the first release.

The Arii 1/100 Destroid Defender kit includes: 2x Dark Tan sprue, 1x polycap, 1x full color instructions, 1x caution sheet. There are no options. This kit does not come with any clear parts.

I have taken for granted the statement “…the model kit has sharp details…” that I forgot what a model kit looks like with soft details. The details of this kit are very soft and rounded, and not sharp at all, unlike a current Fine-Molds or Tamiya kit. I have always likened the Destroids to tanks and accordingly I am used to those types of details for a tank type kit.

When these Arii kits first came out they broke the previous record of number of units sold, beating the previous record that had been held by Gundam kits when they first were released a few years earlier. Nearly 30 years later these Macross molds are still being used and the wear of the molds on these kits are starting to show. Make sure you have a lot of green putty because the fit is terrible, especially on the body, lower legs and where the gun barrels attach to the upper arms. Most of the time spent building this kit was filling up all the gaps with green putty and Mr. Surfacer 500. I also boxed in the arm pivot area with some thin sheet styrene to close up the gap and make it less toy looking.

The good feature about this kit is that you are not committed to putting all the main parts together until you are finished building the kit. This helps with the ease of painting, decaling and finishing. The separated parts include the arms, legs, waist, body and radar. They easily snap in and out of place due to the polycaps. I wish that Arii did this for the feet as well, but as is, it is fine with me.

By far the worst engineering in this kit is the bottom leg section. It is nearly impossible to fill and shape the gaps in the front and back of the lower leg. Also they expect the modeler to chisel out the middle section of the front of the leg leaving only the small corner “L” shaped edges on the leg. I knew something looked wrong and it was too late before I figured it out. Why Arii just did not make it smooth with eight small “L” shaped parts to glue to the leg is beyond me as it is considerably more dangerous to allow a kid to chisel out that part with and Xacto-Knife than to just have eight small parts. The rear ankle parts had open holes, which I boxed in to get a solid look.

Gluing the barrels to the upper arm did not go to well either and after applying layers of green putty and Mr. Surfacer I was able to get a good fit. The front sensor part also had some difficulty. Molded in two halves (Parts 18 & 19), when glued it presents itself with a seam that is impossible to fill without damaging the surrounding area. I decided to glue some thin sheet styrene over the gaps. The result is great but it took a considerable amount of time to accomplish that goal. I also suggest not gluing the completed sensor part until the last step after painting and applying the decals as it would be impossible to mask off the ammunition box parts as it is a small area to work with. You will be glad you did.

The real shame of this kit is not including any clear parts. These parts should include the clear sensor covering, the two headlights and the knee lights. A red clear senor gem should have also been included. The senor cover should cover the red and black part on the “nose”. The headlights should be painted white or silver and knee sensors are represented as decals. A red gem could be scratched build and would great improve the look of the kit.

I have made some effort this year to improve my weathering technique and though the Defender would be a good platform to experiment with. As an undercoat I painted Tamiya German Grey around the panels and raised areas and painted Tamiya XF-60 Dark Yellow as the overall base coat. Tamiya Green Khaki was used for the ammunition boxes and Testors dark Gull Grey was used in lower knee area then sprayed Testors gloss coat for decals.

When I first saw the decal sheet I though the decals were junk. They were very frosty looking, the details were not sharp and even the sheet was not cut correctly. Surprisingly they were some of the best decals I have ever worked with although one cannot read the words on the stencils. Unfortunately the decal placement was very vague in the instructions but luckily enough I was able to go back to my old Imai Defender kit and use the resources at Macrossworld.con to get the decals in the right places. One cool decal that the kit came with was some pin-up art for the Destroid named “Angel Face”. It is suppose to be placed on the left toe, but I moved it up to the lower leg for better display. Over all I love the WWII tank feel with the decals such as the pin-up art, geometric codes on the back, “V” ammunition box codes and stencil serial numbers.

One complaint I have read about the kit is the application of the while leg stencils. The upper leg stencils after being cut in half presents no problem when applying but the lower leg stencils have to set on a high contour raised area. Believe it or not I got it to set with Solve-set a high concentration decal setting solution I picked up at the local hobby shop. It took a while and I had to work with it but I got all four stencils around the contour with no major problems. The finished product looks great and I highly suggest picking up a bottle of Solve-set for your modeling supplies.

After spraying a coat of flat coat, I applied a wash of Winston oil paints of Lamp Black and Burnt Umber. I dry brushed a lighter tan for the raised areas. Most importantly this was the first time I used MIG weather products from Spain. I wanted to represent a Destroid Defender from after the Battle of Mars in episode 7: Bye-Bye Mars. MIG products is a weathering systems of paints and washes developed by a Spanish modeler named Mig Jimenez http://www.migproductions.com/index.htm that has very much taken the military modeling community by storm by introducing some unique products to modelers.

I bought Europe Dust P028 a powdery substance that is mixed together with MIG Thinner for washes. When the two products are mixed together it produces a thick muddy substance. The mud is then applied to the model with a brush, and when the thinner evaporates a very realistic mud coating is left on the kit. I only used it in the lower leg and feet area and other places where Martian mud would settle. It is going to take some mastering but I think these MIG products have a lot of potential for Sci-fi modelers. I finally airbrushed some black in the gun barrel tips and other assorted areas and sprayed another flat coat over the kit again seal it completely.

What do I think of this kit? At first I was quite disappointed with the kit with its soft details, lack of clear parts, ill fitting parts and the many problems with the lower leg area. But after I painted, decaled and weathered it, the Destroid kind of came into its own. The raised details weather quite well and the small details such as the pin-up art make this an interesting kit. The Arii Defender kit does stand a bit stocky for my taste but overall I am quite pleased with the kit.

The real question is how much time do you want top spent on fixing a $5-$10 model kit? I only did some minor improvements but a modeling expert could make this a stand out kit. And for $5.00 it is cheap enough for a beginner modeler to have some fun, and the overall one color is great for modeler who uses spray cans. Yes this is an old kit, but unlike the Arii’s Valkyrie kits, with some elbow grease this kit still has little life left in it for the Macross modeler.

© 2009 Article and pictures by Leonardo Flores and Collection DX.

It seems like every kid on the block had one of these Macross Valkyrie VF-1J Bootleg figures in their toy-box. This VF-1J was one of the many inexpensive toys that were easily available at the local swaps meets and 99 cent stores and was perhaps one of the most popular bootlegs available during the early 1980’s.

Valkyrie VF-1J Bootleg

It seems like every kid on the block had one of these Macross Valkyrie VF-1J Bootleg figures in their toy-box. This VF-1J was one of the many inexpensive toys that were easily available at the local swaps meets and 99 cent stores and was perhaps one of the most popular bootlegs available during the early 1980’s.

If one wanted to find obscure Japanese toys, besides Japanese specialty toyshops, the local swap meets were the place to go. The list of legitimate Japanese toys that I bought at these swap meets is endless and I still own many of these toys in my collection today. The swap meets were also a place where many bootleg Japanese toys were sold. Many of the Go-Lion bootlegs that are available today originated during this “Swap Meet Chogokin” era.

With many Macross/Robotech Valkyrie toys being difficult to locate or expensive to purchase, it was no wonder this bootleg Valkyrie was as popular as it was. I do believe this was a recast from the small scale Takatoku Valkyrie that was available at the time as I remember owning a VF-1A Hikaru from Do You Remember Love? in this scale. Even the box is a not so subtle nod to the Takatoku packaging.

The bootleg boxed Valkyrie VF-1J consists of: 1x VF-1J, 1x Laser Rifle, 1x instruction sheet with blue printing.

Although it was a bootleg, this toy was fairly well made. Many of the parts were die cast metal, good plastic was used and the articulation was decent considering in was designed in the 1980’s. Metal parts include the chest and back area, the legs, feet and wheels. Most importantly it was fully transformable from Fighter, Gerwalk and Battloid modes. If you own one of these be extremely careful of when transforming this figure as it has weak shoulder hinges, as my original toy easily broke in the shoulder area back in the 1980’s.

I wish the color was more of a white color, like the VF-1A DYRL Hikaru but it seems very standard compared to the Takatoku releases at the time. Transformation is standard but the hands do not telescope into the arms. The head turns and antennas rotate and the head shape is very accurate but I had wished they had included some sort of visor details, as it is very plain looking.

The worst accessory to this figure is the laser rifle, which appears to from another toy. It just looks so wrong! If anybody has a guess what toy it was from let us know. It looks like it is something from Southern Cross but that is just a guess. The stickers are already attached to the figure and except for the out of scale red stripe flash on the
chest, they are applied well.

Next to the bootleg Go-Lion/Voltron figures, these VF-1J’s were some of the most popular non-licensed Japanese toys that were available in Southern California. A co-worker still had this boxed figure in his collection that he bought back when he was younger and sold it to me when he found out I wrote vintage toy reviews. I do not know how much these sell for these days but I’m sure a boxed C-10 VF-1J would easily sell for $60.00 today.

©2008 Article and pictures by Leonardo Flores & CollectionDX

It interesting to note that I begin my first review about the Hasbro’s 1982-1994 GI Joe: A Real American Hero series of figures in the month after Mervyn’s Department Store announced they are going out of business. For it was Mervyn’s Toy department that I saw my first GI Joe Figures for sale and where my parents purchased a bulk of my GI Joe collection from.

Snake Eyes: Commando (1982)

It interesting to note that I begin my first review about the Hasbro’s 1982-1994 GI Joe: A Real American Hero series of figures in the month after Mervyn’s Department Store announced they are going out of business. For it was Mervyn’s Toy department that I saw my first GI Joe Figures for sale and where my parents bought a bulk of my GI Joe collection from.

Some collectors might not be aware that at one time Mervyn’s used to have a small toy department through the early 1980’s. It was not a huge department in local Upland store, eight rows of shelving surrounded by shelving on the walls with one check out register in the middle. It was a small selection but whoever was the toy buyer for Mervyns had great taste. It was here I saw many great toys for the first time that not only included GI Joe but Tron, Robotech and Empire Strikes Back. My mom had worked at Mervyns so her store discount helped out in receiving a few dollars off items.

I have a great memory with my parents shopping at Mervyns while I am holding my brand new Kenner Empire Strikes Back Luke Skywalker in Hoth Outfit in my hands. I sure most of you who were collecting at that time have some sort of variation of these types of memories.

It was the Mervyn’s toy department where I saw my first GI Joe figures for sale. From that moment the first figure that caught my eye was Commando: Code Name Snake Eyes. Remember, this is pre- Marvel Comics/ Sunbow animation Snake Eyes. The back-story of Storm Shadow, Timber, the romance with Scarlet, the Soft Master/Hard Master legend had not been woven by Larry Hama yet. At this point he was just the mysterious all black commando of an anti terrorist group known as GI Joe. $2.95 less, I had my first GI Joe figure.

Snake Eyes comes with: Snake Eyes action figure, UZI and Bomb pack.

I was amazed at the mobility and the durability of the figure especially compared to the benchmark at the time of 3 ¾ figures, Kenner’s Star Wars line. Although the 1982 line today is criticized for it simple recoloring and usage of the same parts on nearly all of the first 15 figures. Besides the repeated heads, I thought it was great the figures had uniforms looked the same like a real military platoon. It has been said that Snake Eyes was molded in one color so Hasbro could save some money with not having to apply any paint to the figure.

The art design of Snake Eyes nearly 25 years later is still top notch. The 1982 version of Snake Eyes will always be my favorite version. I like the goggles and the molded band in the back of the head, the motorcycle boots and dynamite explosives attached to his leg that was particular to Snake Eyes only. And after watching films like Mad Max and the Road Warrior and purchasing the R.A.M. motorcycle I sort of liken Snake Eyes to a renegade motorcycle anti-Hero like Mad Max.

I also loved the detailed weapons of the Israel designed UZI machine gun and bomb pack. With my then growing interest in Militaria (my father fought in USMC in the Viet Nam war through 1966) and my love for 20th century history I see now that Snake Eyes was all too accurately armed to fight a terrorist organization.

Note the anti-terrorist unit that rescues the hostages on the following video as they could all be “Snake Eyes”:

I would like to think that Snake Eyes character development was designed around the many terrorist situations that were happening in the 1970’s and 1980’s and perhaps a reflection of those times. Most special ops commando soldiers names are indeed classified to protect their private lives and it is to note that Snake Eyes was the only character from the 1982 line who’s real name, to this day, remains unknown.

Unfortunately my original figure was sold or traded off in the late 80’s, but I was extremely lucky to locate a clean original straight arm Snake Eyes a few years ago from a vendor at the Pomona antique mall for $5.00. Today expect to pay about around $25-$60 for a complete figure and over $700.00 if the figure is still in the package. Be aware that originally Snake Eyes was released with dark grey and black weapons and are often replaced with the battle pack #1 which were molded in a lighter grey color.

Mervyn’s shut down their Toy Department in the late 80’s, which was really the end of an era for those early years. Snake Eyes continues to capture the imaginations of kids today and although he is dressed in black, Snake Eyes was a good, pure and selfless character that the other Joes could depend on under any circumstance.

©2008 article and photos by Leonardo Flores & Collection DX.

You can Clearly see how awesome this Gavan toy is.

While I am not a huge Metal Hero fan, I have always had a soft spot for Gavan (ギャバン), the silver armored warrior from Space Sheriff Gavan (宇宙刑事ギャバン).

I spied this cheap little toy at Kimono My House, and knew I had to grab it. It’s a translucent PVC figure with hard plastic translucent plates that clip on to the body.

Gavan stands about 6” tall and separates into 8 pieces. The clear plastic has a green tint and has great mechanical details etched into it. The hard plastic shell parts snap onto it acting as armor plating. The two levels of plastic really adds a nice dimension to the toy. Also included with the toy is a sword and three small erasers. There are different versions of this toy with different color plating, background foils, and different erasers.

I absolutely LOVE the packaging on this toy. Victora is quickly becoming one of my favorite companies for vintage box art.

Bigfoot is larger than most of the other Mecha in the series at 3.5" tall. It is made almost entirely of metal, the exceptions being the chest, head and shoulder pads.

The Combat Armor Bigfoot HT-128 comes from the anime series Fang of the Sun Dougram (太陽の牙ダグラム Taiyō no Kiba Daguramu).

The story follows the action of the guerilla freedom fighters known as "The Fang of the Sun" who are in a war with the Earth Federation, who are ruling the colony Deployer with an iron fist. It’s kind of confusing.

Bigfoot comes packed with a gun, sticker sheet, 2 small figures and a catalog. The toy has limited articulation - only the legs, arms and waist move.

Takara had the initial rights to manufacture merchandise based on the show. They produced three main scales of mecha – 1/48, 1/72 and 1/44. There was only one 1/48 made (of the Combat Armor Dougram) and three 1/72 scale toys. It was only in the 1/144 line that most of the mecha made it into toy form. The 1/144 scale toys are only about  3 inches tall and made almost entirely out of diecast. Despite their small size, they have a suprising amount of detail and articulation. Each toy features various bits of removable armor and weapons as well as a sticker sheet and catalogue. Packed in Styrofoam and encased in some of the most beautiful boxes ever, these toys are just wonderful.