Brothers should be close, don't you think?

Before we go forward, let's take a quick look back for a minute, shall we?

Since it is the most copied toy in the junior machinder category, I often must reference the Robo Kress bootleg, a toy that was based on an original Japanese toy by Takemi (which unfortunately, I do not own). And if you've been reading for awhile, you may remember a toy made by the same company (Galba) that I condemned as being the worst Combattler V toy ever made. Remember this guy? Our old friend UFO Star Boom?

Well, since the Robo Kress was not an original design, it shouldn't have come as any surprise that neither was the Combattler. And yet it did. This past week, whilst doing my regular Ebay searches I saw this guy in a preview picture and didn't even need to click the auction to recognize the similarity.

Of course, I knew right away that I needed this and sent an offer to the seller, which he graciously accepted. So soon I would be able to unite these two "long lost brothers".

But something seemed unusual to me. In the seller's description, he said the got it at a train station in Japan. Now, I am well aware of cheap bootleg Japanese train station toys (called "zokki") but this just didn't fit the profile. I'd never seen a Japanese toy that looked this....bad. Yet, I had no reason to doubt the seller.

When it arrived, the story would become clearer. There is a sticker on the stomach that says "Combattler" in English and the rest of the writing appears to be in Korean! A-ha! So it's not Japanese after all, but Korean. That makes sense, especially since I've seen a similar style toy from there before. (More on that in another review!) So how did the seller get mixed up? Well, I asked him if he ever lived there as well and he said he did make a brief trip to Seoul as a child and that his dad often went there. So it must've been purchased on one of those trips, brought back to Japan, then back to the US and finally to me! I love being able to trace the travels of a toy like that. It's great to know what adventures a toy has had before settling in your hands.

Combattler here is about 15" tall and as you can see from the pictures above, has more play value than the Italian "Star Boom" version. Both fists can launch (although the left one is missing the spring) and there is a big disc shooter in the stomach (this too, no longer functions). Now, when I say that the fists launch, I mean the entire forearms, yellow and all, not just the black fists. Fortunately, those black fists can actually be turned since it is a separately molded piece held in place by a screw inside the forearm.

The blue feet are also attached via a screw inside the bottom of each foot. The color scheme, while ludicrous, is very appealing in a goofy way. And while there is no "Star Boom" or dot stickers, I think I like these ones better than the knockoff version. At least it's sort of got a proper face.. even if it does appear to still be smiling for some reason.

All lightheartedness aside, I am extremely happy to have added this one to my collection. I consider it an important find, mostly because most Korean toys are those hard plastic bots that we used to cover very often. While interesting and often amusing, those are really not my thing. As a sort of polyethylene junkie, this is a rare find and it's connection to an existing part of my collection only enhances it's appeal.

BONUS!

There's definitely a lot more to discover from Korea. Check out this old magazine picture from a Korean marketplace that was sent to me a couple years ago. There is a rare unknown Taekwon V circled in red, but you can also see a Reideen, a Grendizer, a Robot Keiji K and a Hiyata from Ultraman!

I continue to plug away on the junior machinders. And as usual, this one held more secrets than I was expecting.

A few years back I bought a lot of junior machinders from a friend of mine, including Dangard Ace, Jeeg and Gundam. As a gift, he also threw in a loose, incomplete Daikengo knock-off called "Robot From Outer Space".

I'd seen it for sale a number of times in the past and just never pulled the trigger on it for one reason or another. So it was nice to have this as a cheap placeholder. But eventually I would have to upgrade and that time came a couple months back when I saw one on Ebay with a 30 euro "buy it now".

I usually associate a bootleg toy with the robot whose head it borrows so that's why I consider this a Daikengo toy. But as usual, it also features the limbs from Robo Kress. The toy is 15" tall and articulated at the neck, shoulders and hips. The arms are hard plastic and the head is vinyl, with the rest of the toy made of polyethylene.

For weapons, both fists shoot and there is a single missile launcher hidden beneath the removable belt. Eight missiles can be stored at the waist and on the sides of the legs. The right hand can hold a chrome sword.

The box measures approximately 16"x9"x3.5" and is interesting for a couple of reasons. First off, it shows the toy with a different belt than the one that came with mine. This isn't much of a surprise since these toys often have variations (more on that in a minute). Secondly, even though the toy was made in Hong Kong and distributed in Italy, all the directions are in English! The only thing in Italian is the warnings on the sides and on the sticker placed on the front of the box.

I'm not sure what it means by the belt being used as an "arm ring". It doesn't attach to the arm or anything like that.

Ok, back to the variations and the toy I originally had. When I compared the two, it was obvious they weren't quite the same.

Disregarding the missing parts and stuff, the first thing you can see is that the arms on the new one are lower than on the old. Furthermore, the plastic missile holders on the legs and the launchers in the waist are different colors, too.

It's hard to see in photos, but even the heads are slightly different with the vinyl on the old one being smoother. It looks ever so slightly bigger too, but it's really difficult to tell for sure.

There seems to have been quite a few of these popping up mint in box lately and these differences made me wonder if this toy might have been re-cast and/or re-released recently? Or perhaps these variations have always existed and there's just been some old stock discovered? I can't say that I really care a heck of a lot either way. I'm just glad to finally have a complete one that doesn't need to be hidden behind other toys on my shelf.

Another toy I've had for awhile, but simply forgot to review. So it's time to add it to the database...

Space Hero may be one of the more common Italian junior machinders (sold in Italy, made in Hong Kong, as usual), but it's a pretty nice one. Although it does use parts from other toys, the final package actually looks remarkably good. It doesn't look like a mish-mash of other toys.

The toy combines the arms and legs of Robo Kress with the body of Jeeg and the head of Atoranger. It also includes the same sword, shield and discs that are included with a variety of other toys. (In the interest of full disclosure, mine is missing one disc and it currently "wearing" one from the Oklahoma Super Robot just to fill out the empty space.)

In addition to the actual parts of the toy, it also shares the same box with another toy called Space Hero, one with Combattler's head. I'm not sure why the Combattler one uses this box. Maybe it doesn't and I just have the wrong box for it. But I've never seen it with another box.

Space Hero stands about 14.5" tall and has 5 points of articulation (hips, shoulders and neck). It's a mixture of hard plastic, polyethylene and soft vinyl. The torso however has an odd feel to it. It's harder and rougher than poly, but not as hard as regular old plastic. Frankly, I'm not 100% sure what kind of material it is.

Although both fists shoot, as is standard for these toys, this is one of the few (and maybe the only one) that does not shoot any missiles.

So, what else? Well, naturally, there exists a variation to this toy. This one has much fatter legs and has been affectionately dubbed the "thunder thighs" Space Hero. I've never seen another junior that has these legs so I can't imagine why the change was made.

Super Hero is a unique bootleg. Almost too unique for my liking as it presents a difficult labeling decision for me.

Sometimes I wonder if assigning toys to a certain genre is even worth the bother. With each successive exception to the "rules", you can get pulled further and further away from the original intent of labeling it in the first place. This is a common problem with machinders. It's pretty common for any large sized toy to be called a "Jumbo Machinder" regardless of whether or not it has any similarity to an actual Jumbo Machinder. Once you start dealing with smaller toys, it because even more difficult.

With that in mind, I give you "Super Hero", a 12" bootleg toy that Josh was kind enough to pick up for me when he was in New York City covering this year's Toy Fair.

What do you think? Is this a junior machinder? It's kind of got a machinder-like stance, but it seems to be made more of regular hard plastic than polyethylene. I do display this with my junior machinders of course, but.... I don't know. You can just tell it's different, y'know? I'm including it in the machinder category because.. well, I've dug myself a hole by including some of the Easter basket Gundams there. I guess if those are in, this one is, too.....

Anyway, regardless of what you want to call it, it's a pretty cheaply made toy. The plastic it brittle and thin. After photographing it, I left it on the top of my desk, where it would eventually fall to the floor (probably at the same time my Super Warrior die-cast did). The connecting peg inside the left leg broke in half (and the arm broke off the Super Warrior) and when I tried to glue it back together, the back of the leg cracked just from applying some light pressure while the glue set. It never held anyway, so I just put the leg back in with only half the connector. It stays on, but is very loose.

There are no manufacturer markings on either the toy or it's packaging. (The vendor who carried this repaired the broken top part with cardboard from another product. This wasn't made by 3M!) Super Hero came on a blister card.

The toy is articulated at the hips, shoulders and neck and includes the always popular light up feature in the chest. Unfortunately, this didn't work right out of the package and I don't dare try to take it apart to replace the battery.

Super Hero is cast in all black plastic with silver and gold painted highlights. Stickers are also sprinkled about the toy. I have no idea what they are supposed to represent. It comes with two guns that are very thin and lacking in detail. They look like they should go with some G.I. Joe knock-offs instead of a "mighty" robot. They fit into holes in the fists.

Ok, so now I guess it's time for the fun part of the review. It's name that rip-off time! I think it's pretty obvious that the legs of this one are based on the legs of a Zaku, but can you see any other parts stolen from more famous robots?

Hane da man!

Junior Machinder Space Warrior bootleg!

Hanedaman is a junior machinder that is very similar to another one that I previously reviewed, Space Hero. Strangely, although they share many of the same parts, they were made by two different companies. Where the Space Hero box has the SMC logo on the bottom left corner of the front, Hanedaman has the Ceppi Ratti logo there. It would be great to have a sort of family tree of these toys and the companies that made them, but I'm afraid that's unlikely to ever happen. Just too much is unknown and still undiscovered at this point.

Much like the Kimpo Warrior box, the box for the Hanedaman shows two different robots fighting on the cover and has the head of each on the top side of it. However, there are no boxes to be checked and if a Hanedaman is out there that had the head of Atoranger instead of Combattler V, I've certainly never seen it, not that that discounts the possibility.

As you can see, the toy features the head of Combattler V and the arms of Robo Kress. The legs appear to be at least similar to the legs of Daikengo, which is strange. While there is a very rare bootleg Daikengo jumbo, the only junior Daikengo I have seen actually uses the same legs as Robo Kress. You would think if they had Daikengo leg molds, they'd be used for Daikengo, but I guess not.....

Anyway, I digress......

Much like the Space Hero toy, this guy has the same opening chest piece that hides the disc launcher in the stomach and the missiles launcher in the waist. However, this time around a different belt is used, one much like the one from Kimpo Warrior, although as I stated in that review, I've also seen Kimpo Warrior with another belt...the one from the Space Hero in fact. Confused, yet? Good! That means we're having fun.

Hanedaman comes with the same shield as Space Hero, but with a different sticker on it. Instead of a chrome sword, it now has a little red ax that is very common on these toys. It's also seen on the Dangard Ace and Jeeg from GC and the Pegas from Tercom! If you're counting, that's one weapon on four toys from three companies. I'm sure there are probably others, too, but these are just the ones I own and have reviewed.

I like the Hanedaman toy better than the Space Hero toy. Not only are it's legs more distinctive, but it's also taller and stand more upright.

Hanedaman vs. Space Hero

Ok, we're almost done. Just one more thing to mention. As if all that other stuff isn't hard enough to keep track of, naturally, there's also a variation with the Hanedaman toys themselves. When I bought this one, the seller sent me a picture of another he had in his collection (unfortunately, not for sale) that actually has a blue body instead of black! This is the only time I've seen this variation so the black would seem to be more common. Figures, since I like the blue better...

Blue bodied variation

Do you remember fun?

I am sick to death of Macross. There, I said it. Everytime I turn around, it's VF-1this and VF-1that. That so many people are obsessed with this old children's show and keep buying new versions of it's mecha in some mad hope for the perfect Valkyrie is mind-boggling to me. Especially since they got it right the first time!

Macross toys are just so damn boring. I'm sick of looking at Valkyries. I don't understand why people are so eager to keep buying the same old thing over and over (while usually complaining about it every time they do).

Nope, I just don't get it. I used to have a couple of these things and for awhile I thought, sure, ok, they're not so bad. But the more I heard people blathering on about them, the less I wanted anything to do with it all and mine went to Ebay. Good riddance...

It should have ended there.

But it didn't.

Oh, no. Finally, there appeared a Macross toy I could relate to. A Valkyrie that didn't look exactly like every other Valkyrie I'd ever seen. A Macross toy that I would be proud to have in my collection. A Macross toy to (hopefully) end all Macross toys.

Behold!

Oh yeah baby. I can't tell you how excited I was when I found this one. You know how much I like ugly and unusual bootlegs in general, but to now have one that would offend the eyes of the entire Macross collecting community all at once? Too good to be true.

Dare to speak ill of it?

It will beat the devil out of you.

The toy originates in Hong Kong and came packaged in a bag with a header card and cardboard insert like a classic Japanese vinyl toy. The artwork on both are far more intricate than the actual toy.

The toy measures about 11.5" to the very tip of the those pointy things on it's head and is articulated at the shoulders, hips and neck. It has basic stickers slapped haphazardly on various parts of it, saying things like "UN Spacy", "Danger 75" and VF. You know why it just says "VF" instead of a more specific designation? BECAUSE IT DOESN'T MATTER! THEY'RE ALL THE SAME ANYWAY!

This toy holds it's gun sideways because it's bad-ass.

As soon as I tried to pose it, the arm fell off. It didn't even care. (Yes, unlike most Macross toys, this one actually has attitude and charisma!)

With a little imagination, you can even customize perfectly good fancy plane and headless bent over robot modes.

Weeee!

Ugh, my back.....

Up, up and away.....

This is the only Macross toy I own. It's the only Macross toy I'd ever want to own.

Kimpo Warrior is a strange toy meant to mimic the Shogun Warrior Great Mazinger Jumbo.

Kimpo Warrior is an interesting Junior Machinder. Similar to the Viking and Goodrock toys, there are two toys that are separately sold, but actually come in the same box. Each toy is different, but in this case, they seem to share the same name. There is an image of each robot's head on the box with a check mark next to the one you are buying. Mine actually has the check mark on the wrong one, but I don't really care since the box is the same regardless. Don't worry, I knew which one I was getting when I bought it.. ;)

One of the Kimpo Warrior toys is most easily identifiable by it's head based on the character of Atoranger. The other, and the one I'll be reviewing today, has a head that looks like twisted offspring of Great Mazinger and a fish.

Kimpo Warrior is about 15.5" tall and is one of the few junior machinders that doesn't take it's arms from Robo Kress. In fact, with a launching fist on the right hand and three firing missiles on the left hand, this toy seems very much inspired by the Mattel Shogun Warriors rather than the Japanese Big Robo toys. Further incorporating that aesthetic is the 3 missile holders on the side of the legs. These are made of cheap plastic and I'm fortunate that mine are not broken. I'm always very worried when adding/removing missiles from these.

In addition to the 3 missiles Kimpo Warrior can shoot from it's left "hand", there is also a single missile launcher hidden beneath it's belt. That belt in turn can hold two more missiles on the sides. Unfortunately, my belt is missing a piece that goes in the middle. Strange that that piece appears to be just the bottom of a common shield that comes with many different junior machinders. I've seen it at least twice like this, but I've also seen this toy come with a completely different belt altogether.

Kimpo Warrior is a neat toy, just because it's so unusual. It's stands out from other junior machinders and is desirable due to it's similarity to Great Mazinger.

Made in Hong Kong for the Italian market, where Jeeg reigns supreme!

I've never been a really big fan of Jeeg, yet this is one of my favorite junior machinders. Maybe because you don't see it too often and it's very distinct from all the others that share similar heads and bodies and stuff.

Of course, having just said that, it is true that this one does share the same arms as many others, the ones having originated with Robo Kress. But so many of these toys have those arms it would almost seem strange if it didn't so I don't hold it against the toy. In fact, I think it works pretty well on this character, certainly much better than on toys like Dangard Ace or Pegas.

Jeeg is about 14.5" tall and seems to be made entirely out of polyethylene and hard plastic, even the head which is usually soft vinyl. Both fists shoot and the left fist can hold an axe. This weapon again is included with a great many junior machinders. It's final piece of artillery is a missile launcher located in the waist. Unfortunately, mine doesn't shoot anymore.

Jeeg has stickers on the arms, waist and neck and is articulated at the knees, hips, shoulders and neck. It comes in a nice box with some colorful and appealing artwork on the front. There is another, rarer Jeeg junior machinder out there, but I don't have that one. In fact, I can't even remember what it looks like.

This toy, as you might expect, is for die-hard Jeeg and machinder fans only.

This toy should only be looked at using special protective goggles... from a distance...with your eyes closed...

I almost get bored of saying "this is one of the worst Mazinger Z toys out there" because the supply of horrendous renditions of this beloved character never seems to run dry. I tell ya, if I were a super robot, I'd try to keep a low profile because it seems like the more popular you are, the greater the chance that your image will be repeatedly mutilated and used to make some of the worst products on the planet.

This particular Mazinger Z comes from Mexico and I sort of consider it a companion piece to the super rare, horribly ugly jumbo that they made down there. The face is very similar and they share the same bat wings. A third toy exists that I think is bigger than this, but not quite jumbo sized that would complete this unholy trilogy. Don't even get me started on all the little "Star Wars" style action figures down there, one of which is included in the picture below.

But this toy is probably the most common of the bunch. I've seen it on Ebay plenty of times but could never quite bring myself to buy it until recently. It's 12" tall and articulated at the hips, shoulders and neck. Made of polyethylene with painted details, the paint is always chipping off and looks terrible.

Oh.. did I mention the bat wings? It seems like this can't be pointed out enough. The funny thing is that eventually Japanese designers would start to add bat wings to some of their robots. Hey Japan, get your own ideas!

Another thing about this one is the way the chest piece is all one piece and sags down into the belly of the bot. It makes it look like an old man version of Mazinger Z to me.

This toy is terrible.

Just really, really terrible....

God, I love it.

...aka "Robot Of Peace", this is a unique, recently discovered junior machinder.

As I begin to type now, I've just completed writing the reviews for the Boss Borot and Gordian bootleg machinders and I worry now that I'm going to sound like I'm just repeating myself. But, yet again, here we have a strange bootleg junior machinder that seems to have just come out of nowhere, having never been recorded before it's sudden appearance on Ebay in May 2008.

This one is unique in that it, with the exception of the missiles it comes with, it appears to be an all original design and does not share any parts with other existing junior machinders. This gives the toy a completely different look from the known toys in this genre and made it all the more desirable to own for that reason.

Robot di Pace ("Robot of Peace") stands 10" tall, making a one of the smaller junior machinders out there and a kindred spirit with the Viking and Goodrock toys.

You can raise and lower it's arms as well as turn the head, but that's it for articulation. Both fists shoot when you press the button on the arms and a single missile can launch from the waist by pressing the button on the back.

The head is made of soft vinyl while the arms are hard plastic. Everything else is polyethylene. Not only is the sculpt for this toy all original, but it appears that the stickers are, too. I don't recall seeing them on any other bootleg machinders.

While most junior machinders are made in Hong Kong and sold in Italy, this one was made in Italy. Were it not for the fact that the name of the toy is Italian, I might think that it was sold in the UK, which is where the seller I bought it from was located. That would certainly explain why we hadn't seen it before, since the UK is not exactly known as a machinder hotbed.