Space Dangan launcher Gō

Combinable Space Dangan launcher Gō (合体できるスペース ダンガン ランチヤー号) is a cheap toy made by Japanese toy company Hayakawa Toys. Hayakawa is known for their cheap rack toys of generic characters made to cash in on whatever is popular at the time. While not bootlegs, they definately feel bootleg-ish.

They made many different versions of this toy, on different cards, and they have in turn been copied in places like Hong Kong and China. This version appears to be an early one, as later releases have some English on the header.

I never opened this one up, because quite honestly it looked so great on the card.

The main character of the set has an early Microman vibe mixed in with a head resembling Danguard Ace.

The little bits of art that show through the die-cut card are marvelous.

The back of the card shows just some of the combinations you can make with Space Dangan.

Some random observations:

• I love that the plastic bubble actually slides under the die-cut parts of the card. Very unusual packaging
• Obviously Dangan is a play on Gundam.
• I’m still not sure how Gō (号) works. I was under the impression it was a counter like the “th” in 5th, but on its own I’m not sure what it means
• Also, I’m a little unsure of the maker being Hayakawa. I could only find confirmation that later versions were by Hayakawa, but I could not find a matching logo.