"They had some other Japanese robots at the toy store," my girlfriend said. "But they were complicated looking things with a million parts, so I didn’t think you’d be interested."
I had my second Japanese robot within the day.
I had my second Japanese robot within the day.
But the Black King (I know. He’s not black) was only one of a series, and I found out that they had most of the others at Toys International, which was not far from where I lived.
The Red King came home to fight, and then combine with the black.
Soon King Joe (right) and Gomorra joined the fray.
I have fond memories of sitting up late watching movies on TV and reassembling those little guys in all sorts of ways.
Sometime later Baltan Seijin, and King Kong completed the set.
I didn't know it at the time, but all these monsters were villains from the Japanese television show Ultraman. Here's a clip of King Joe and Gomorrah in action. (The Black Joe is an ally.)
It wasn’t long before the top of one bookcase was set aside to display the Arkron family.
And Toys International had a lot of other cool stuff as well…
Part Three
JWM
I'm thinking that the King Kong robot could be useful in dealing with my catz ...
ReplyDeleteKing Kong is a cat zapper, bigtime, Walt. The hole in the middle of the chest launches an airplane, and the nipple knives are spring loaded, too. The Red King missile launcher works like a gattling gun. All the shooters on these toys SHOOT. They'll bounce the missile off the wall from all the way across the room. These things a genuine put-your-eye-out hazardous toys. But that's the difference between our litigious, and safety obsessed culture, and the Japanese.
ReplyDeleteJWM
Much diggin' the bots. Regarding toy hazards, keep in mind the Japanese have smaller targets than us "round eyes". 8)
ReplyDeleteBTW, did you catch any of last year's series, "I Survived A Japanese Game Show"? Pretty hilarious. (No bots were harmed in the making of that program.)
Must ... get ... King Kong ... cat zapper ... must ... get ...
ReplyDeleteNoMo:
ReplyDeleteI never get near a television set if I can help it, but there was some ridiculous Japanese game show I would see occasionally on one of the cable stations Extreme Challenge or something like that. They broadcast it with deliberately bad English dubbing. It was funny stuff. And if you think these guys are cool- just wait. I'll start bringing out the good stuff in the next installation.
Walt: Good luck finding an Ark King Kong (or Mech Gorilla in the English boxed version.) If you can locate one at all it'll set you back the price of a good used car (well, a crummy used car, anyway). The Arkrons are some of the holy grails of toy collecting. Very rare. Very hard to find, even in the Japanese, and Hong Kong collectors' markets. Ark was a small company that went out of business pretty quickly. Very little is known about their history.
HOLY COW!
It's after seven O'clock. I just got done with a photo session that I started right after my last post at 1:15. Must eat.
Thanks for stopping by.
JWM
This wasn't the good stuff?? Can't wait for the next chapter.
ReplyDeleteHuh. For some reason I can comment here from Firefox now. Hooray.
wv: These guys are vulsiv!
Did you say "nipple knives?"
ReplyDeleteDude! That is too cool! :^)
Mack could use some of those...
"No Annie, don't touch that!"
Then again, could be a problem...
Okay- I'm a middle-aged girl and I'm finding these fascinating.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe it's just the call of one fanatic to another?
wv: appesali. Appease Sally? Buy her more yarn...