I kept putting it off and putting it off. But when I finally bought this Jumbo accessory, I felt like an idiot for not getting it sooner.

I've never been shy about admitting that I'm not a big fan of the Jumbo accessories. Most of them have nothing to do with the toys they go on and only serve to make a very cool robot look worse than it does in it's original form. And in such a difficult, expensive hobby, why should I spend my cash on them while there are still Jumbos out there that I don't have? Especially when you consider how easy it is to get the accessories! It's not like they won't be available later. They are always on Yahoo!Japan and litter toy shops all over Tokyo. Sure, I've had a couple in my collection here and there, but mostly as the result of trades, bulk purchases or people just flat out giving them to me.

However, one accessory did always intrigue me and that is the Jet Scrander (ジェットスクランダー) that goes with Mazinger Z. Much like the Scramble Dash accessory that comes with the Unifive Great Mazinger, this makes your Unifive Mazinger Z seem like a whole new toy. It's so much cooler with the wings on. This set is a necessity, not an accessory.

When I received the package, I was surprised at how small the box was. It measures only 9"x6"x4". The toy itself comes in several parts and needs to be put together. Directions are printed on the back of the box, but it's really simple to figure out just by looking at it. Although it connects at the waist differently than I would have imagined. The yellow crest is actually a loose piece with two tabs on the back. You place the larger tab into the corresponding hole on one side of the "belt" and then slide the smaller one upwards along a curved opening on the other side. It has the effect of tightening his "belt", in a way. Nothing actually snaps into place or anything like that, yet it remains securely in place.

Like the rest of the Unifive Jumbo Machine line, this is also based on an vintage Popy toy. I've never held that one, but I assume it is basically identical to the new version. Strangely, both the new and vintage versions tend to sell for about the same price.

The Jet Scrander has a wingspan of slightly more than 18.5" across when assembled and will add roughly 4" to the depth of your Mazinger Z Jumbo. This makes it harder to display on a shelf, but it's a small price to pay for the added cool factor.

The last Jumbo to come from Japan......

The fourth and last entry in the Unifive line of Jumbo Machine toys would be Gaiking (ガイキング). The original anime aired in Japan from April 1st 1976 to January 27th, 1977, but would later be shown as part of the "Force Five" program in the United States. Popy would release a Jumbo Machinder of the character in 1976 and Mattel would release a radically different one as part of their "Shogun Warriors" line the next year. Most US collectors had to settle for the inferior Mattel version, until the Unifive re-issue of the Popy classic.

I have never owned the original Popy version, so I can't say for sure, but to the naked eye, the Unifive looks completely identical. One of the first things I noticed when preparing this review is just how many parts this thing actually comes with. It had been awhile since I'd taken it apart so a little dusting was in order. Much like the other two heroes in the line, Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger, I've really grown so used to this toy that I don't often appreciate how nice it really is. It's really got alot going for it besides just it's great design. The missiles in the eyes of the chest both shoot by pressing a tab just next to them. 5 missiles are included, and the spare three are stored in the chest by lifting the Daiku Maryu face and snapping them into the holders.

Gaiking also shoots his right fist and his left fist, which doesn't shoot but can be removed, has a hole in it so that it can hold one of his "Counter Cross" weapons. Both of these can be removed from the legs so it would have been nice if each hand could hold one. In addition to these offensive weapons, Gaiking also features a removable set of wings that can be easily slid on and off via two hooks that are placed into openings in the back.

Gaiking also comes with a pair of great big horns so that you can create the head of Daiku Maryu. In order to do this, you need to remove the wings, head and arms. The head just slides out of a hole in the shoulders. You should remove the wings before trying to remove the arms. This is because the arm sockets have two openings, one big and one small, that allows that shoulders to separate when they are lined up properly with the plastic of the shoulder joint, which is molded to match the two holes. The arms need to be pointing backwards, where the wings would be, in order to achieve this. Then, simply replace the arms with the horns and you've got your Daiku Maryu head.

I suppose this is a pretty interesting feature, but personally, I'm not sure it's worth the downside it creates. That being that because the arms are designed to come off, they sometimes seem a little loose and frankly I don't like that the head comes off so easily. I mean, honestly of all the people I've ever met who own this toy, I don't think any actually display it as the Daiku Maryu head. I guess anything that adds play value is nice, but I just don't see much appeal of a Daiku Maryu head with legs.

One last thing I don't like about this toy is it's packaging. While the previous entries tried to emulate the original boxes, this one just has a lame picture of the toy on front. Of course, if the original Gaiking box wasn't so beautiful maybe it wouldn't hurt quite so much to get this one.

I'm not complaining though. Had U5 gone ahead and kept producing these toys, I'd have bought every single one, regardless of how the boxes looked. But as it stands, this is not only the last Unifive Jumbo, it is also the last Jumbo produced in Japan.

GAIKING:

It's nearly impossible to review the Unifive Garada K7 Jumbo Machines without also discussing it's relationship to the legendary Popy toy.

Rather than review each of Unifive's Garada K7 (ガラダK7) Jumbos separately, I think it would be best to talk about all three at once, for the benefit of newer collectors who might be confused about how many versions there are, and why. As we know, the Unifive Jumbos were basically an homage to the original Popy Jumbo Machinders. Unifive released Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger first, banking on the popularity of these characters for sales. But they decided to try something different for their third release, producing a new version of Mazinger Z's number 1 enemy kikaiju, Garada K7. This was also to be based on the original Popy toy, but there was a problem. The original toy was so rare, no one had an original specimen, or even a picture, of the toy to use as a template.

In order to get around this problem, the toy would be manufactured based upon the only images known to exist at the time. These were pictures of the original prototype seen in a catalog, as well as on the box for the second series Machinder villains. The project was announced and a mysterious teaser image was included with the Great Mazinger jumbo. An image of an unpainted prototype would even turn up.

The original Popy Jumbo Machinder villain box, featuring the Garada K7 prototype.

Unifive promotional teaser included with Great Mazinger Jumbo Machine.

Unifive Unpainted prototype.*

So eventually the toy would be released. It stood slightly smaller than regular Jumbos at 20.5" tall and was made entirely out of soft vinyl, with the exception of the styrene sickles in the head. The sickles could be removed but there was no place for the toy to hold them. Each one is about 9" across and placed into small slits in the back of the head. With the sickles in place, the width of the toy is about 19" across, which might be a bit of a problem when displayed with other Jumbos. There is slight articulation at the neck and waist, as well as at the shoulders and hips. Garada has a tendency to lean slightly forward when it's feet are flat down and pointed forward. Turning the legs inwards straightens it out, but makes it look a bit awkward. Copyright markings are molded directly into the back. Painted just like the original images showed, now everyone could have a Garada just like the original....right? Well, not exactly.

Unifive Garada K7

Immediately, hardcore Jumbo fans could tell that Unifive had dropped the ball. At 20.5" tall, their version of Garada stood about 2" taller than what the original likely would have been, when you consider that all the other villains in the second series were about 18". And the sculpt was not the same as the original and the sickles protruded at a more horizontal angle than they should have. Furthermore, even though Garada appeared on the second series box, the Unifive version came in a box that was more like the first series villain boxes, plain brown cardboard with a single color image on front. If I had to make a guess at the reason for this, I'd say they probably figured since they were not making 6 different villains, why copy a box that has 6 different villains on it? Better to mimic the first series boxes, which only had the included character.

Popy 1st series villain Kame Bazooka box

Unifive Garada K7 box

Next, a limited edition, hand-painted recolor of the toy would be offered through the magazine "Gangu Jinsei" (aka "Toy Life") in their second issue. The toy would get the traditional black repaint with silver limbs and gold detail on the chest plate, as well as a new sticker on the back. The box would be the same, except that it featured a sticker on the front to distinguish it from the regular version. While releasing black versions is pretty common in the field of Japanese toys, this would be the first and only time it would be done with a Jumbo. It is the hardest of the three to get now and, in my opinion, the nicest looking.

Gangu Jinsei #2

Unifive Limited Edition black Garada K7

But this would not be the biggest draw for this issue of the magazine. They would have an article about Popy Jumbo Machinders, including the first ever officially published photos of the original Garada K7! (An image had appeared on the internet not long before this, but was removed, and the magazine photos were higher quality.) Regardless of which came first, people everywhere could now see what the Popy Garada K7 looked like.

The Popy Garada K7 that appeared in Gangu Jinsei #2*

Clearly, we have ourselves another problem. Not only was Unifive's release of Garada the wrong size and sculpt with an inappropriate box, it wasn't even remotely colored correctly! Furthermore, there was no ball launching gimmick in the chest. Due to these differences, many fans and collectors were very disappointed in Unifive's release, especially since the silhouette in the flyer looks more like the Popy original than the actual toy would. In an interview with Matt Alt of ToyboxDX, toy scholar Koji Igarashi went as far as to call the toy a "total sham". Others simply believed it to be a nice toy, but a poor attempt at a replica of the original. And others didn't care either way, but were just happy to have a Jumbo villain that was easy to get and afford, even if it wasn't just like the vintage ones.

After the release of the fourth Jumbo in the line, Gaiking, it was becoming apparent that sales could no longer justify the continued production of these toys. Plans to release a Jumbo Combattler V were scrapped, but Unifive would still go ahead with one more Garada. A limited "original color" version would be release exclusively in the United States via Diamond Comics Distributors. It would be painted like the original Popy Garada, but would not include a ball launching mechanism or any change to the sculpt. You'd get the same box again, but this time with a sticker designating it as a Diamond Comics "Previews Exclusive".

Unifive Diamond Previews Exclusive Garada K7

You may also hear talk of a "test color" version of Garada K7. This would be a couple of specimens that are the same as the Diamond version, except that they had no packaging, no holes in the head to hold the sickles and the sickles themselves are just hand cut pieces of plastic. These were essentially prototypes and were not available to the public.

So where does that leave us? Well, probably with the most convoluted review I've ever had to write. But hopefully it all makes sense. Essentially, there are five Garada K7 jumbos that you would need to know about. They are:

• white Popy Prototype (seen on box)
• green Popy toy
• white Unifive toy (basesd on Popy prototype)
• black Unifive limited editioin toy
• green Unifive toy (based on Popy toy)

If you want the Unifive Garada K7 toys, the green is the easiest to get, followed by the white, with the limited black version not surprisingly the rarest. None can compare to the original but are cool jumbos to have.

*Many thanks to Matt Alt for letting me use the picture he took of the Unifive prototype Garada, and also to Sean Bonner, for letting me borrow it from Jumboland, where it was originally featured. While I'm at it, thanks also to Tom Franck and his old CoolJapaneseToys website, where much of the original Garada mystery unfolded as it happened.

** While this is the specimen featured in Gangu Jinsei, this particular image was saved from the Mandarake website.

A must have for Jumbo fans.

Following on the heels of Mazinger Z, Unifive's next release in their line of Jumbo Machines was naturally Great Mazinger (グレートマジンガー). For many collectors, this is THE piece to get in the line. Many people loved the Mattel Shogun Warriors jumbo version of this character, but were either unwilling or unable to get the original Popy, or maybe didn't even know of it's existence. This edition from Unifive was practically identical to the original, but at a fraction of the cost. And it is a tremendous improvement over the Mattel toy.

While the Mattel toy has a missile launcher in place of the left fist, this version restores the originals symmetry with normal matching fists. This version also has a nicely molded chest piece instead of the sticker that some of the Mattel versions had. While most collectors are pretty familiar with this toy, seeing it in it's proper form reminds of just how nice it is.

But Unifive wasn't content to just match the beauty of the Popy toy. Instead they went the extra mile and actually included the Scramble Dash accessory. This set of removable wings makes Great Mazinger go from just a great jumbo to an absolute MUST HAVE. The Scramble Dash included here is different from the original. The original came in 4 parts and you had to connect the wings to the center. Here you only have to connect the yellow fin on top. Then just slide the connector around the robots waist and it will rest snugly on it's back.

I can't overstate how much cooler this toy is with this feature than without it. The only minor downside is that it can be slightly hard to display it with your other jumbos with the wings on. because of their size. The wingspan is about 17.5" across and the finadds another 5" to the depth of the toy. Perhaps the best way to display it might be with the wings on, but the fin detached. But that is a very small price to pay. I thnk the only other minor gripe one might have with this toy is that although it comes with two swords that can be stored in and removed from the hips, only the right hand actually has a hole that you can hold one in.

Everything else is like the vintage Popy Jumbo Machinder. There are 5 missile clips on the exterior of each leg and two more on each shoulder for a total of 14 missiles. Unfortunately, there is nothing to shoot them with, but since you got the wings included, I guess you can't complain too much about having to buy the separately sold missile launcher accessory.

The Brain Condor can be removed from the head, the fists removed to accomodate the accessory fists and there are wheels on the feet. The soft vinyl head can be turned side to side and the arms raised and lowered, but neither of the fists shoot. The box is a new image, but an obvious homage to the original Popy box.

While all the Unifive Jumbos can still be found fairly easily, this might be the hardest of the regular releases (ie; not including the exclusive black Garada K7) to get these days since demand for it is so high. But if you're into Jumbos, it's a no brainer. You need this one.

Unifive's Mazinger Z Jumbo Machine is a great piece to get for the new collector.

It must have been a most exciting time for Jumbo fans in 2000 when Unifive began releasing their line of "Jumbo Machines". Unfortunately for me, at the time I wasn't collecting yet and would only come on board at the tail end of the line. I never really thought about it until now, but I suppose there's a decent chance that if Unifive (or U5) hadn't produced these, I might never have ended up involved in the hobby.

Though this line is an obvious homage to the vintage Popy Jumboo Machinders, many things were slightly changed to differentiate the two brands. Most notably the name, but also the toys themselves are new, unique sculpts slightly modified from the originals. Unifive released 4 characters in the line, beginning with the most popular of all Japanese super robots, Mazinger Z and ending with his most famous enemy kikaiju, Garada K7. Great Mazinger and Gaiking rounded out the series and a fifth entry, Combattler V, was planned and a prototype made before the line was cancelled due to poor sales.

Probably the most comprehensive review of this toy would include a comparison with the original Popy Mazinger Z Jumbo Machinder. But I'm one of those collectors who prefers to buy the remake and wait on the original until I have all the other characters that were not remade. So I've never owned an original Mazinger Z. Therefore, I'll try to just focus on this specific toy, making note of things I've been told about the original where applicable.

The most notable difference that anyone can see between this and the original is the paint on the eyes and horns. Here it is gold, whereas the original was yellow. This makes it very easy to distinguish between the two, so you won't have any question which one you were buying. Most everything else seems basically the same (though if you have both and want to correct that, leave a comment!). 23.5" tall with wheels on the feet, though the wheels on mine don't roll particularly well. Mazinger Z comes with a full compliment of 14 missiles, but nothing with which to shoot them. Unifive did release a separately sold missile launching set of fists, as well as rocket punch fists (diagrams of which are on the side of the box) that could be swapped out for the regular hands. I've never bought any of these, but I believe that they are not compatible with vintage jumbos (nor vintage accessories compatible with the U5 Jumbos).

One of the things that I like most about this toy is how much easier it is to remove the fists than it is on the vintage Jumbos. These slide on and off pretty smoothly. In additon to the fists, the Hover Pilder in the head can be removed too. This is a simply vinyl piece with a hole in the bottom that is placed over a tab in the head cavity. Stickers adorn the front and sides for added detail. Besides the Hover Pilder, the head and red chest pieces are also made of vinyl, with the rest of the toy being polyethylene. A sticker saying "Mazinger Z" in Japanese (マジンガーZ) is on the waist and copyright markings are on the back, including the word "Unifive" to further distinguish this from the original.

One of my biggest regrets from my time as a jumbo collector concerns this toy. Several years back an auction appeared on Yahoo!Japan containing the wooden prototype for this toy. The auction also had second specimen with the head removed. Though I didn't realise it at the time, apparently this was the specimen that Unifive had used for the photo on the box! In addition to this already desirable bounty, the auction include a Shogun Warrior Great Mazinger as well as the Unifive release of the Jet Scrander accessory. The auction ended at about 100,000 yen (or roughly $900 at the time) and for some reason I decided to buy a Getter Liger instead! D'oh!! What in the world was I thinking!? Most frustrating was that this was before I realised that massive credit card debt is totally acceptable in the pursuit of cool toys, so I easily could have bought both.....but didn't. A once in a lifetime opportunity gone by the wayside....

Maybe it was because of this that when I later saw a listing for a "Unifive Mazinger Z prototype" on a Japanese website, I didn't hesitate. I emailed Japanese toy dealer Masato Shono and asked him to find out about it for me. What I was told was that a former employee of Unifive had sold this to the shop and that it was planned to be a recolored release of the toy, but never went into production. I was told it was displayed at a toy convention and it came with a card saying something to the effect of "For future release", though this card appears to be entirely in Chinese. I've never heard anything else to corroborate this story and I honestly have no idea if it is in fact true, or if it is a custom that someone sold to the shop under false pretenses (I sincerely doubt the shop would make the story up.) I'd be inclined to dismiss it entirely if not for the fact that Unifive had already released repaints of their Garada K7. Perhaps they tried it here and decided that it wasn't worth doing since paint wouldn't stick as well to polyethylene as vinyl (note the chip on the right arm). Or it's just as likely a total fake. Either way, I think it looks pretty good and it's an interesting conversation piece, if nothing else.

Unifive's Mazinger Z Jumbo Machine is a great piece to get for the new collector, or even if you're already into the vintage jumbos. It's a nice toy and still pretty easily attainable.