Thursday 16 February 2017

mystery japanese die-cast mecha car


This is a strange one I saw online in Japan. It looks like a mash-up between a Captain Scarlet SPC and a SpaceX Tractor T5!

Anyone know what it is?

7 comments:

  1. Hi Woodsy,

    the sticker on the door says "Gardmachine", where a quick image google gives

    http://s1321.photobucket.com/user/liuleo/media/5_zpsn0sl0wxq.png.html

    as the first result which has more pictures. It's described there as a "Danguard A Gardmachine 7", so another quick google on Danguard gets us this:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wakusei_Robo_Danguard_Ace

    The blurbs found by the first google also showed that apparently it's a toy by Popy.

    Hope that helps! :)

    Best -- Paul

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    1. fab research that Paul. Thanks a lot. So its a Popy. They made some lovely die-casts and so complex too. I do like the name Danguard. Where do the Japanese get these names from? Thanks again.

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    2. Dunno if all of two googles qualifies as 'research' Woodsy, but glad to be of help. As to where they get those (bewildering) names from, I have no idea! :)

      Best -- Paul

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  2. Our Japanese friends do it agaain. They really know how to merchandise their SF shows.
    It's a diecast toy of the Gard Machine from the robot anime TV series Dangard Ace in 1977.
    Made by Popy in Japan.
    Bandai also made a larger model kit of it.
    http://www.ebay.com.my/itm/Planet-Robo-Danguard-Ace-GARD-MACHINE-Modei-kit-/130589502637

    Popy was owned by Bandai. Here's a fascinating site about Japanese diecast anime toys:
    http://www.collectiondx.com/manufacturer/popy

    Popy also made those Battle of the Planets (Gatchaman) diecast vehicles that got to the UK back around 1980. Anyone remember them.? Awesome:
    http://www.battleoftheplanets.info/uktoys.html

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    1. so its a TV show! Did we have anything like that on the telly in 1977 Yorkie? As for Battle of the Planets, I've never seen that show either but love the toys. I once acquired a whole collection of the die-casts including God Pheonix, which was amazingly complicated. Sadly all sold on now but they were great. You got any?

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    2. Yet again I got rid of them all. Darn it! Battle of the Planets came to the BBC in 1979. Part of the post Star Wars boom. Apart from Marine Boy shown from 1969 and repeated up to 1977 the only other SF cartoons I seem to recall around that time were American shows like Batman, the Herculoids, Space Ghost and Space Sentinels. I remember Battle of the Planets blew me away with massive machines being destroyed each week( though no-one was injured of course :) ). The Japanese original 'Gatchaman' was much more violent and characters actually died.

      There's a great website http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/ that allows you to search for TV shows and films that the BBC showed (no ITV stuff unfortunately). I was checking it out last weekend to see how old I was when shows such as Mary, Mungo and Midge, The Aeronauts, White Horses, Robinson Crusoe, Champion the Wonder Horse, Casey Jones, Flash Gordon were shown. I remember they were always on every day in the school holidays. Ah the 70s!

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    3. Never seen Gatchaman Yorkie. Just seen a clip of Ghost in the Shell with Scarlet Johannsen. Another anime show I don't know.

      But I do know all the others you mention. Those TV programmes were so cool and all we had was three channels here in the UK! Three great channels though. Not like now, loads of dross. And Marine Boy was a fave of mine with his oxygum and powered boots. I loved the giant spider crab in the titles. Classic. It must have been the first anime shown in the West do you think?

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