Optimus Prime

Optimus Prime, ?, China, 2010's

The crazyness of the Shogun Warriors made way to a whole new bunch of super robots in the 1980's. And the Transformer's line were certainly some of them. Here their leader, mighty Optimus Prime.

You remember the 'toon ?

Going Black and White on the collection...

Iti is really remarkable what black and white can do to otherwise very colorfull objects ! 

Grendizer's Beauty Salon...

Goldrake (shampoo bottle), Aldimport Mestrino,
Italy, 1978

What a nice way to get your kids to have some basic respect for capilar hygiene... Just get the shampoo inside their favorite robot and... voilá !

Once again, Goldrake saved the day !

Hope it was not lead paint... 

... battledamage from H2O ?

El hombre de acero...

Superman, EURA, Spain, 1970-80's ?

Not much is known about Spanish company EURA, except that they made some nice little rubber figurines.
Here is Superman.

One extra Metro, please... it's to chew on the road !

Metro Candy Container, Bonbons MAY,
France, 1982

This one is a candy container. It had a Chewing-gum "Trésor" in its belly ! Nice addition to the rest of the gang - check them out here.

RX78 - Big scale.

Of all Gundams, this one has to be the most popular ! It is the bot that started it all. The one that defended the first Zakus attacks... it is even the one to build real size. Yes. really... they did it a couple of years ago in Tokyo (Odaiba's Shiokaze Park). - to see more, click here. 

RX78 MegaSize Model, Bandai, China, 2000's

Building was a snap !

Lots of articulations... 

...and even more decals!

Microman... and women ?

Microman (?) with sarcophagus, China, 1999

Why the Statue of Liberty ? 

In toy history, the Microman toy line from Takara (Japan) has great importance and paved the way to the oh-so-popular Transformer toys in the 80ies. The toy line started in Japan in 1974, and some of the figures soon made their way to the USA under the Micronauts toy-line (imported directly through Mego Corp.)

Some really cool web-sites are devoted to these, and are worth checking :

http://www.micro-outpost.com/

http://www.microforever.com/

Supergril, Takara, China, 2006

Packaging all pink and girly !

The nice thing about these figurines is that they are/were fully articulated. While Kenner and Palitoy were making stiffness the norm in their Star Wars / Action Force lines, Takara on the other hand was able to get about 30 (yes, thir-ty !) arculation points in their line. And all of this in a 3 3/4 inch figurine !

Furthermore, they came with ton of accessories, and could swap out parts from one figurine to another. At a certain point, they even introduced figurines with magnetized joints ! Tomy - Takara is continuing the line nowedays...

Magneforce ! or magnetic joints...

Icurus, Takara, China, 2005

Microsister Orga, Takara, China, 2005

No need for surgery, doc !

Evangelion set, Takara, China, 2007

Extra hands, weapons, display stands, ... 

And another radar robot... these just keep appearing!

 What's the dot on the forehead all about ? Robot for the Hindi market ?

Radar Robot, ?; Hong Kong (?), 1970's

No legs on this one... just little wheels
and friction mechanism !