Yamato
Review by Shogundan
Almost everywhere you go in the world, people will recognize this anime icon, Space Battleship Yamato. Here in America, we know the anime as Star Blazers, and the ship as Argo. I just know it as my first experience watching a Leiji Matsumoto "space opera". Today, I will be reviewing Space Battleship Yamato, from Taito's Super Mechanics line of UFO catcher prize toys.
I know many people would think, that when you use the term "prize toy", you would be referring to some lame piece of garbage. Well in this instance, many people would be wrong.
As soon as you remove the Yamato from its window box, you will be impressed with its detail and size. The Taito Yamato, has real shelf presence at a whopping 40cm, that's almost 16 inches! The ship is constructed of quality plastic and ABS, making it very sturdy yet lightweight. Unlike Bandai's expensive BPX-01 SOP Yamato, you don't have to worry about playing with Taito's version. It's not very fragile and at 1500 yen, about $15.00 USD, you won't be too upset if you drop and break it.
Despite its cheap price, you'll be surprised at some of the features of this toy. Such as, extendable wings, swiveling turrets, and gun barrels that can be raised and lowered.
Another cool feature of Taito's Yamato is the opening third-bridge hatch. 
If the price and features listed above don't impress you, the detail and classic original anime styling will.
In my opinion, a home run is the only way to describe Taito's Yamato. With its sheer size, features, and detail at only $15.00 USD. How can you go wrong? Go ahead, pick one up, while you still can.
Comments
21 comments postedI looked high and low for one of these last week in Japan...no luck. It was high on my list, too. Now it's even higher. Ugh
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"Hey, uh...let's volt in."
Hi Gigamach,
Check out on ebay. Thats were I scored mine. Also look for the Arcadia from Captain Harlock. Its from the same line and its pretty sweet. I'll have the Arcadia review up within the next few days.
-Dan
You say $15, but that's the price it's marked. What did you pay? These usually go on ebay for $40-$50 shipped.
Duke,
Yup, You read correctly. I picked it up for $15.00 on ebay. shipping was $9.00 from the seller. So grand total out of pocket was $24.00.
-Dan
This, and the rest of the items you review are exactly the type of thing we're looking for on our show and tell site Micurio. We need this type of content, and enthusiasm, especially on our Anime catagory. We would certaily appreciate your checking us out.
http://www.micurio.com/
Thank you so much for the complement. I am really flattered for the offer of writing on your site. However, my loyalty is to JoshB and the CDX staff. Thanks again.
-Dan
What we have here is a classic case of someone getting into the industry without truly knowing their audience. People learned years ago that you just can't infiltrate an active community and plug a site. The users rebel. Even if your intentions were pure and you just didn't know, this is going to be what happens in pretty much any on-line community you join to try and promote your business.
It also shows a bit of naiveté on your part that somehow we would be the ones benefiting from your site. We've been around for almost 8 years and get millions of pageviews a month. You? We had started CDX with the business model that you have now - all types of collections, for all types of users. But the thing we found is that people who collect things like pens and dolls are not active internet users. And they can't relate to people who collect boys action toys, which is where the heavy net users are. So what happens is your site becomes decidedly lop-sided, and the communities can't interact, because they can't relate. Thus they only discuss on a superficial level, and a tight community that does not make.
I'd be more than happy to talk about promotion ideas with you, in regards to advertising opportunities and sponsorship, but please, don't spam our comments sections. I'm leaving this up because I think it is a healthy discussion, but if it happens again, you will be banned. Feel free to join active discussions and have your URL in your signature though, ok?
Josh
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CollectionDX Admin
I don't know if the staff here will appreciate that last post.
Taito makes some pretty kick-ass prize toys, the big problem is they come and go within weeks of release, they're hard to track down, they make a low quantity,and they seldom see a reissue for years - if ever.
My suggestion is to jump on one when/if you find one, and don't play it cheap. These are marked low but getting them is chore so be ready to drop 3-4 times the price to obtain one.
They're starting up a Super Robots line with Raideen out, and Getter 1 soon. A nice alternative to the old Marmit FLOSR line.
Mmm... can't say I dislike it, but I think some new exposure would be good.
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CollectionDX Staff
My point was someone coming out of nowhere, asking readers to go somwhere else to post, and dropping a URL to God knows where.
There are other ways of going about it that would make it less spam-like.
I don't run the site, but I frequent it enough to feel a connection to it, and seeing weird stuff like that put me off.
Like gokin? Try www.bigsteel.com to get your free Godmars!
No different in my opinion.
The site looks legit and maybe some will go there, but it's basically a flickr group, but getting someone else's site hits instead of CDX.
for £8 UK thats a must have... even if I have yet to watch it...
Transformer and other robot art by me on my DA site blitz-wing.deviantart.com
Just a heads up, it's not my intention at all to draw traffic away from CDX, quite the opposite honestly. We want both the collectors who run this blog, and those who frequent it to share their collections and collectibles with us. Not only can you share your items, but you can also link back to blogs, favorite stores, or even your own ebay sales on our site.
Anyone from CDX who uses our site is encouraged to link back to CDX, as it would be a great way to share insight and information on new and old collectibles that pertain to the items posted on the CDX blog and Micurio.
Belive me, Micurio is much more than just a mere Flickr group. Everything I said in my original post, I meant. We need enthusiastic collectors, and blogs such as this are a great place to find the type of collectors who can help us build great content on Micurio. If we can help CDX gain exposure at the same time, all the better!
You joined the site minutes before you posted, then put some phony comment about something looking like a good piece. You didn't read the terms of conduct it seems either. You could've contacted the webmaster asking for an ad or mention instead of dropping a URL into a comment.
I'm not accusing you of being malicious or trying to steal members away, but it was just very blatant in how you approached the plugging of your site, and it could've been handled differently.
It's up to the powers that be what to make of it, I just felt it needed to be addressed. I've seen too many sites get loaded with spam in the comments section that it causes the webmaster to remove the feature. Especially small fan-based ones like CDX.
I agree. That was totally bush league.
"This must be settled the way nature intended....with a vicious, bloody fight!"
Onyx Blackman
Principal, Flatpoint High
Japanese crane game prizes are a whole nother ball game compared to the stuff you'd see around here. I have Gamera (from Gamera 2) and Irys (from Gamera 3) vinyls that were crane prizes,and honestly,they look better than a lot of Bandais. It's just like the difference in quality between vending machine toys here compared to there.
Thanks Atom,
Wow, All this response. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. At least people are reading what I write...LOL
-Dan
I got a hold of the Taito Raideen, actually. 1050 Yen. I lucked out, and other than a little travel wear (I had to stuff him and his bag into a bag already full of stuff...not a lot of protection) I'm stoked. Taito...who knew? Pretty great stuff there.
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"Hey, uh...let's volt in."
In my opinion, the most ingenious part of the model is its detachable main engine nozzle. This design made its overall length 40 cm possible.
Unfortunately, Taito has not reused this ingenious idea on any other ship models.
New here. But I just scored one of these off eBay for $59 from Japan. I got it Wednesday. It is very well put together. A lot better looking in person then the pictures. Then engine snaps on but the whole thing feels solid. Highly recommend picking one up if you can. At least till I can afford one of the large ones.