Sorry, no toy designer on acid bootleg here. But there are differences that make this boot worth getting.

This is a bootleg of the small plastic and diecast Victora toy made in 1983. Besides being a lower quality, its nearly identical to the original. Sorry, no toy designer on acid bootleg here. But there are differences that make this boot worth getting.

While the original can be somewhat tough to find, the bootleg is pretty common, and cheap.

The box is completely original to this toy. Inside you will see that toy is actually packed with its limbs removed. The original did not have removable limbs, at least, not on purpose. Here its marketed as play value.

The package has some great engrish on it as well, with such classic phrases as:

"Directions to play the Albegas"

"Do not point the people when shooting the missile"

and my favorite:

"Press the button on the back, and the missile SHOULD shoot out"

It's as if the bootleggers knew that the toy may or may not work! Classic!

The toy features a diecast chest with plastic limbs. The front of the lower legs are also diecast.

Albegas is stuck in its Denjin Dimension (Alpha > Beta > Gamma) form, and is non-transformable. The arms are really nicely articulated and this toy even comes with a sword. This is interesting because the Victora version does NOT come with a sword. It appears that a hole was drilled in the hand of the bootleg specifically for this purpose. The sword included is of unknown origin, but it does not belong with this character.

Included with this toy are small, blue, chokable missiles. You load the missiles by flipping down the panel in front and inserting them, then they can be fired by pressing the button on the back. Contrary to the text on the back of the package, the missiles DO shoot.

This cheap, small Abegas toy is a nice little addition to your collection that can be had for under $20, and worth hunting down even if you have the original.

The black Alpha robot is quickly becoming one of my “Holy Grails”, largely due to its inability to be found.

Beta Robo is one of three robots that combine to become Albegas, from the anime series Lightning Wind God Albegas (Kousoku Denshin Albegas 光速電神アルベガス).

This toy is relatively unknown amongst collectors. It is one of three small cheap Albegas robots that can combine to form the giant Albegas robot. Even though it is cheap and hollow, it appears the toy fully combines. Why do I say “appears”?  Well, I have never made the combination. I have only been able to locate the Beta and Gamma robots. I have never even seen a photograph of the Alpha robot in this line, never mind seen one for sale.

In addition to the combining features, Beta Robo comes with a metal gyro and a ripcord. This is known as the Gyro Mecha. All three toys in this line are labeled this way. You can take the individual robots apart and insert the gyro mechanism into them, pull the ripcord and watch the toy zoom off across the room. The package shows the combinations, and they make little sense.

The toys come packed in a Styrofoam tray inside a window box. The packaging is nice, and the toy comes with a small instruction sheet that shows how to assemble the robot.

The black Alpha robot is quickly becoming one of my “Holy Grails”, largely due to its inability to be found.  

The Godaikin Abega consists of 3 robots that transform into jets as well as combine into one larger ship. The original toy was called the New Super Abega Jetrobo DX Popynica, manufactured by Bandai Japan in 1983.

Way back around 1984 or so Bandai America was importing Japanese toys under the brand name Godaikin. The assortment of toys was random, mostly consisting of whatever Bandai Japan was producing at the time. Of course, you got your assortment of giant robots, but a few of the robots had a noticeably different feel to them. Instead of firing fists and lions, you got an interesting 80s aesthetic. White metal, red highlights, and chrome metallic appendages – it was very cutting edge at the time. The age of LCD watches had come and it had influenced toy design.

Laserion. Vavilos. Abega. All were products of this school of design.

Alpha

Beta

Gamma

The Godaikin Abega consists of 3 robots that transform into jets as well as combine into one larger ship. The original toy was called the New Super Abega Jetrobo DX Popynica, manufactured by Bandai Japan in 1983. It came from the show Albegas, which was to become Voltron II in the United States (it never aired, but the toys for Voltron II hit the stores in 84).

The name Abega is a combination of the names of the three robots:

• Jet Alpha
• Jet Beta
• Jet Gamma

Each robot has a vehicle mode and a robot mode. The toys are mostly plastic, with metal being reserved for chrome limbs and select body parts. I’d say 25% of each toy is metal. The three robots combine in vehicle mode to form the Abega Jetrobo. This combination is not too solid, but it holds together fine.

Bandai must have been going through a weird phase at this time. This toy (as well as the DX Albegas) shows some really innovative design, but some really poor construction choices. The wings and arms have a tendency to break on these due to a bad choice of material. The hinges on each of the robots are especially fragile. If you’ve been toy collecting for a while, you’ve undoubtedly seen the corpses of broken Abega toys littered in transformer lots throughout eBay.

It’s an interesting toy, but not a particularly rare or desirable one. If you find one unbroken, it’s worth picking up.

Godaikin Abega with the popy ST Albegas toy

In Japan, Voltron II is known as Kosoku Denjin Albegas. It is often translated as Arbegas, Abegas, Albegus and Arbegus.

Voltron II or Gladiator was meant to be the second TV series to go along with Voltron I (Dairugger XV) and Voltron III (Golion). For some reason, the show never aired, but Matchbox licensed the toys and put them out anyway.

In Japan, Voltron II is known as Kosoku Denjin Albegas. It is often translated as Arbegas, Abegas, Albegus and Arbegus.

In 1983, Popy released the DX Chogokin Kosoku Denjin Albegas Denjinbox. It featured three individual chogokin robots that could be transformed into 6 “official” modes. The robots were Alpha Robo (Black), Beta Robo (Blue) and Gamma Robo (Red).

Alpha

Beta

Gamma

Each figure featured a sword and firing fists. The six modes are:

• Denjin Dimension (Alpha > Beta > Gamma)
• Space Dimension (Alpha > Gamma > Beta)
• Magma Dimension (Beta > Gamma > Alpha)
• Sky Dimension (Beta > Alpha > Gamma)
• Marine Dimension (Gamma > Alpha > Beta)
• Guard Dimension (Gamma > Beta > Alpha)

The Albegas Denjinbox actually comes in two versions – The first version box is horizontal and has the green, grid-like background artwork and the Popy logo. The second version is vertical a rainbow strip at the top and the Bandai logo. Popy was absorbed into Bandai during this toy’s production run. The toy originally retailed for 4,500 yen.

In 1984, when World Events Productions licensed Albegas as Voltron II, Matchbox imported the Denjinbox set for release in America. To conform to safety standards, Matchbox removed the swords and the firing fists from the release. They also split the box set up into individual robots.

At the time, the Gladiator Robot was a pretty ingenious thing. Each robot came apart and could recombine in endless combinations. Because we never saw the show, we really had no idea what was the “right” combination. I always thought the red robot was supposed to go on top as a kid.

Marine Dimension

Each robot is constructed basically the same. The legs attach at the waist via a fragile connection point. The bottom of the legs are solid metal, with a hinged foot and knee. Doors on the side open and act as a lock to hold the legs in place when they are compressed. The arms are jointed at the elbow, but have a small bump in them that prevents them from bending backwards. A yellow button on the shoulders releases the arms so that they can swing backwards for the combination. The shoulders slide out from the metal chest area and a grey hinge allows you to compress the torso into the chest, and then the shoulders push back in to lock it all in place.

Hinge Assembly

As a kid, I remember getting one of the three Gladiator robots – I think it was the blue one, but my memory is hazy. I remember the toy practically disintegrating after a short period of play. As cool as the concept was, these toys were really fragile. The connection joints where the legs attach to the body are pretty flimsy on their own, but add in Popy’s trademark fragile blue plastic, and you have a recipe for disaster. To this day, finding an unbroken set is a rarity. Other common problems were fists breaking off (they were just glued in), and slouching. Over time the middle plastic on the robots cannot support the heavy weight of the metal chest, and the robots “slouch”.

I have always had a soft spot for this toy, largely because as a kid I never had all three robots, and was never able to see the 3 robot combination. As an adult collector, I love the looks of this toy, and its endless play value. It really is a shame that it is so fragile.

The art on the Matchbox package shows the Gladiator with his hands out, but the Albegas robot always had only one set of hands visible at a time.

Terebi-kun ad from July 1983 for the Popy DX Chogokin Albegas Denjinbox