Astekaizer hails from the show Star of Pro-Wrestling: Astekaizer (Pro-Wres No Hoshi Astekaizer), created by Go Nagai. The show premiered in 1976 and was a mix of live action and and animation. It followed the exploits of Hoshi, a professional wrestler who could transform into Astekaizer, a champion of justice. The show lasted 26 episodes, and wrapped up in October of 1977.

This is a small version of the main character - Astekaizer. This one is about 3 inches tall, and mostly metal. You can pull the blades out of his forearms but they are not spring loaded like his bigger brother.

This Astekaiser is sturdier than the others, and stands up well, but suffers from the poor head sculpt.

Still, it is a cool little toy, and a worthy addition to your diecast collection.

Goriking hails from the show Star of Pro-Wrestling: Astekaizer (Pro-Wres No Hoshi Astekaizer), created by Go Nagai. The show premiered in 1976 and was a mix of live action and and animation. It followed the exploits of Hoshi, a professional wrestler who could transform into Astekaizer, a champion of justice. The show lasted 26 episodes, and wrapped up in October of 1977.

Goriking is a another character from the show, and I think he is a villain. He features removable forearms that can be replaced with either a gatling drill arm or a claw arm. The Claw opens and closes, and the gatling mechanism works with a little effort. All arms appear held in place with magnets.

Goriking does not have as much metal as Astekaiser, but makes up for it with the crystal clear dome. He is simply one of the coolest looking robots I own. He is not perfect though. He has very floppy leg joints and has a tendency to lean forward or backward and his chest stickers can peel over time.

It is interesting to see just how much the toy has changed from the version shown on the box, which is probably a prototype. Note the fully sculpted face and embossed chest detail. Did Yonezawa run out of money?

Yonezawa also manufactured a smaller version of Goriking, but it is quite rare. I've never even actually seen one for sale.

Astekaizer hails from the show Star of Pro-Wrestling: Astekaizer (Pro-Wres No Hoshi Astekaizer), created by Go Nagai. The show premiered in 1976 and was a mix of live action and and animation. It followed the exploits of Hoshi, a professional wrestler who could transform into Astekaizer, a champion of justice. The show lasted 26 episodes, and wrapped up in October of 1977.

Yonezawa created an assortment of die cast toys for the series, including several of the main character, Astekaizer.

The No.1 Astekaizer is about 6" tall, and made almost entirely out of metal. Only the head, forearms and chest plate are plastic. This thing is a big chunk of metal. Articulation is limited due to the nature of the construction, but somehow it seems appropriate.

Flick a switch on the back of his wrists and chrome blades pop out. In addition, Astekaizer also can fire missiles from his heel! How crazy is that? Those missiles can fly across the room, so be careful. Also be careful handling Astekaizer, as the elbow joints are fragile and can break easily.

This is really a toy for those who appreciate old-school, non-poseable Japanese toys. It is just oozing with style.

Later on, Empire Toys bought the molds to this particular Astekaizer toy and used it to create their Star Mites series.