Return of the emperor! A forever classic design! Now with strengthened joints! And more die-cast! For the first time feel the power of the design recreated in your hand with super articulation! Mazinkaiser joins the Riobot series from Sentinel! Designed by the famous design team Chemical Attack and supervised by Dynamic Productions this product will come built to look massive and powerful in any pose. Designed to keep this look in any pose, the whole body will be filled with gimmicks to enhance range of motion that will shock you when you pose it. Will come in a metallic finish and uses numerous transparent parts but it will come heavy and steady thanks to the die-cast parts used. The Mazinger Mazinkaiser Riobot Action Figure includes option and effect parts that will allow you to recreate many of the famous scenes of the series! Measures about 8-inches tall.
THUNDERCRACKER AND BUSTER SAVE THE WORLD! A DECEPTICON who wants to be a screenwriter. A dog who wants to, I don't know, eat stuff and chase squirrels or whatever dogs want to do. A White House under siege by DIRE WRAITHS. And the phone call that brings them all together. Just because OPTIMUS PRIME and SOUNDWAVE are leading the REVOLUTION doesn't mean the rest of the TRANSFORMERS aren't keeping busy! 28 pages, full color.
In 1993, The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers burst on the scene in an explosion of colorful combat, bizarre monsters, incredible robot battles, and Megazord-sized fun, spawning a global phenomenon and an ever-expanding storytelling universe. These comics present the stories fans have been waiting over 20 years for: all-new stories featuring the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers! This is a never-before-seen Power Rangers story starring the six Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and is not a reprint of any existing material! 32 pages, full color
Mazinger Z (マジンガーZ) is a Japanese super robot manga and anime written and illustrated by Go Nagai. The original manga version debuted in Weekly Shonen Jump October 1972 until it ended was continued in a different format in TV Magazine from October 1973 to September 1974, with an anime adaptation airing on Fuji TV.
The manga and anime tell the story of the protagonist, Koji Kabuto and the titular mecha Mazinger Z. The Mazinger was created by Koji's grandfather Professor Juzo Kabuto from the discovery of the fictional Japanium and using it to create the powerful and durable Super Alloy Z. It's main purpose was to combat the Mechanical Beasts of Dr. Hell, a former colleague of Professor Kabuto who killed the research team he and Prof. Kabuto were a part of during an expedition in the Greek island Bardos. Prof. Kabuto managed to escape and began his work on the Mazinger and other robots to combat Dr. Hell. Managing to finish it, the professor was killed by a bomb planted by one of Dr. Hell's henchmen, Baron Ashura. Koji noticing the explosion rushes to his grandfather's side. With his dying breath, the professor informs his grandson of the impending danger and gives the Mazinger to him. Koji swearing vegeance on Dr. Hell, becomes the pilot of Mazinger Z and with help from his girlfriend Sayaka Yumi, his younger brother Shiro Kabuto, and some sort of help from Boss, Koji fights against Dr. Hell and his minions.
Super Robot Chogokin action figure of the Mazinger Z!
Giant robot from the Mazinger Z anime and manga series.
From Bandai Tamashii Nations, it features real metal die-cast parts!
With real metal die-cast parts, the Mazinger Z Super Robot Chogokin Action Figure stands over 5 1/2-inches tall. From Bandai Tamashii Nations, it features the powerful giant robot from the Mazinger Z anime and manga series as a Super Robot Chogokin action figure.
There have been many people in the entertainment biz that have questioned why film maker, Jules Urbach, would opt to make a live-action, 3D, film based on a Japanese giant robot cartoon from the 1970s that was rarely seen on American television?
Others are also wondering why Urbach would choose to release his film, "Gaiking", in the same year as "Godzilla 2012", "The Avengers", "Star Trek 2", "Batman 3", possibly "Cloverfield 2", "Iron Man 3", and the newly announced, "Monsterpocalypse"?
True, the "Transformers" movies have made bank, and similar films, such as "Robotech", "Voltron" and "Battletech" are also in development for release over the next few years, but making a film based on a property such as "Gaiking" looks, on the outset, like a major gamble.
I'm sure that there are a good amount of us generation x'ers out there that remember "Gaiking" from the popular Mattel toy line, "Shogun Warriors", which came out in the late 70s, but that's hardly enough of a fan base to warrant such an outing........or is it?
Recently the website, Heat Vision, caught up with Urbach and picked his brain for information about his film:
HV: "Transformers" is pretty huge. and there's a "Voltron" movie in the works. Is there room for something like "Gaiking" that isn't that well known here?
Urbach: "Voltron" really took off because of the great cartoon. "Gaiking" never had that and neither did "Shogun Warriors" as a whole. The only thing we had was "Four Spies" here in the U.S. And that was only shown on the East coast for a little bit. I can only imagine how this property would have been perceived if we had a normal cartoon.
In France or Italy, this is bigger than Spider-Man. Toei understands this will do very well in Europe, where the cartoon is well-known. They approached us because they wanted somebody outside Japan to take a crack at this.
Our goal was to figure out a way that would be appealing to an American audience. And while there's a lot of people who played with the toys, we are not counting on any of that. For most people, this will be completely new.
And I think we did a good job introducing it, even from that little teaser. It's just been exciting to be introducing it to a lot of people and seeing their reaction.
HV: Are you worried about the title being a little inaccessible? Why not go with "Shogun Warriors"?
Urbach: We wanted to introduce one robot and thought it should be the focus of the film. It's like you want to introduce Superman before you introduce the Justice League, right?
The title is something that we're still looking at. It's in the mix. We are very aware of the possible limitations. I can't speak for Toei, so I can't speak how it will be used in the marketing of that film. We just want to use it wisely.
HV: There was a time when there were a lot of giant robot cartoons. And now with special effects technology being where it is, we're poised for a movement in movies. What do you think is the appeal of giant robots?
Urbach: Gaiking and those kinds of robots, you're talking about giant robots that are piloted by humans. You're not talking about Transformers, where they are their own characters. These robots are the extension of the pilots; they are really like giant suits of armor. So it's really the people inside them that are the characters. That is a huge differentiator. Gaiking is one pilot. It's really the pilot expressing himself through this giant mecha.
Here is that mega-cool teaser trailer that is mentioned in the interview:
Though the film maker doesn't touch on it in the interview, there is already interest in adding more of the robots from the "Shogun Warriors" line in a planned sequel, tentatively titled.....you guessed it...."Shogun Warriors".
Just which of these classic Japanese giant robots will make it into that film is still up in the air, but reportedly Urbach has already secured the rights to many of them and in his own words, "(Shogun Warriors)...will feature more of the robots, than the Marvel Comics series did."
Now, I know exactly what you are thinking. The "Shogun Warriors" line of toys featured a few very prominent names from Japanese pop-culture, including, The Great Mazinger, Godzilla, and, unofficially, Rodan.
Was Urbach able to secure the rights to use any of these characters in his film? Will we see Mazinger (called Mazinga in the toy line) in the movie? Could the film maker have been able to cough up enough dough to get Toho to let him use two of their prize properties, namely Godzilla and Rodan?
Urbach isn't saying, yet, which robots are going to be in his movie, except Gaiking....and that's kinda a given. Though, he does plan to reveal all at this years Comic Con, which I will be attending.
Of course, since Legendary Pictures is already making a "Godzilla" movie here in The States, so any chance of seeing the monster go toe-to-toe with Japan's greatest giant robots is all but an absolute 'no chance in hell'.
Though, that may make for the greatest movie ever!
I don't see that happening, and without Godzilla, there certainly won't be a Rodan in the mix either.
Mazinger, however, could be in the film, and that alone would be amazing.
Wonder why Urbach didn't go with Mazinger anyway? I mean, the Japanese animated show was released here in America under the name, "Tranzor Z".
Oh, well. Here is some history on "Gaiking" and the "Shogun Warriors" from Wikipeadia:
Demon Dragon of the Heavens Gaiking (大空魔竜ガイキング, Daikū Maryū Gaikingu) was a Super Robot mecha anime series produced by Toei Animation, credited as an original idea by Akio Sugino. However, in reality the original idea was of Go Nagai. Toei deliberately took Nagai out of the credits in order to avoid the payment of royalties. Because of that, Nagai sued Toei and stopped further collaborations with Toei for a long time. The legal battle lasted more than 10 years. Nagai himself confirmed that he was the creator of Gaiking in the Comicon 2007 in Naples, Italy.
It ran from April 1976 through January 1977 and consisted of 44 26-minute episodes. Gaiking was notable for being one of the few super robot series to take place in real places outside of Japan, and for being the first Super Robot series to have a mobile carrier for the chief robots. In the USA, Gaiking was part of Mattel's popular Shogun Warriors import toy line of the late 1970's and Jim Terry's Force Five anthology series. In 2005, a sequel titled "Gaiking Legend of Daiku-Maryu" was produced. On March 28, 2010, a Live-Action Movie based on the series, simply entitled, Gaiking, was announced at the 2010 Tokyo Animation Fair. In international production will be helmed by American filmmakers, Jules Urbach and Matthew Gratzner. Gaiking is being prepped for a 2012 world-wide release.
Shogun Warriors were a line of toys, licensed by Mattel during the late 1970s that consisted of a series of imported Japanese robots all based on then-popular giant robot anime shows. They were originally manufactured in three sizes, the 24-inch (610 mm) plastic versions, the 3.5-inch (89 mm) diecast metal versions and the slightly taller but much more detailed and articulated 5" diecast versions. There were also several vehicles offered and a set that could be put together to form Combattra (Combattler V).
The most attractive features on these toys were the spring loaded launcher weapons such as missiles, star shuriken, and battleaxes. Some robots were able to launch their fists. The later diecast versions of these toys were also attractive for the ability to transform into different shapes. Raydeen, for instance, was changeable into a birdlike spaceship. These "convertible" editions were the precursors to the "Transformers" line of toy robots but unlike the later toyline it was not unusual for minor dissasembly to be required to achieve the secondary form. There was even a robot named Megatron in issue #18 of the comic, then the name was used multipe times for the leader of the evil Decepticons from Transformers. Also, the second form was not always an apparently useful one, a "giant skull" for instance.
Like certain other toylines of the 70s, the Shogun Warriors came under pressure due to safety concerns regarding their spring loaded weapons features. Children would launch the weapons and hit other children or pets in the eye, or else they would swallow the plastic missiles. Toy manufacturers were facing new regulations due to reported child injuries as a result of playing with these toys. Consequently, many toy companies were forced to remodel existing toylines with child safe variations (such as spring loaded "action" missiles that would remain attached to the toy). For this reason, as well as decreasing sales, the Shogun Warriors toyline disappeared by 1980.
Several of the anime from this toyline were seen in the 80s as part of Jim Terry's Force Five series.
Shogun Warriors was licensed in 1979–1980 for a 20-issue series by Marvel Comics, which was written by Doug Moench and featured art by Herb Trimpe. In the comic, the Shogun Warriors were created by a mysterious group called the Followers of the Light. Human operators were chosen from all around the world to operate the massive robots in order to battle evil.
The series is firmly rooted in the Marvel Universe, as evidenced by their interactions with Doctor Demonicus in issues #12-14 and the Fantastic Four in the last two issues of the series. Issue #15 was a fill-in issue written by Steven Grant with art by Mike Vosburg. The series took a dramatic turn with issue #16, as the Shogun Warriors' mentors were destroyed by the Primal One and his followers. This alien force decided that Earth's technology had outpaced its morality, and so it was their duty to destroy the Shogun Warriors as well as other powerful humans, including Reed Richards and Tony Stark.
Though he never appeared in the comic series, Red Ronin (a robot created for Marvel's Godzilla comic) was mentioned occasionally and was frequently talked about in the letters pages.
Amazing Mazinger! Directly imported from Japan in original packaging comes this Mazinger Z action figure. Package measures approximately 7 3/4-inches tall x 8 3/4-inches wide x 3 1/2-inches long.
Worried about smudging your super awesome Mazinger? As an added bonus, a special pair of cleaning gloves and cloth are included to keep Mazinger bright and shiny.
Mazinger Z (Majingā Zetto), known as Tranzor Z in United States, is a Super Robot manga and anime series created by Go Nagai. The first manga version was serialized in Shueisha Weekly Shōnen Jump from October 1972 to August 1973, and it later continued in Kodansha TV Magazine from October 1973 to September 1974. In December 1972, the anime version premiered on Fuji Television. The TV series ended September 1, 1974. A second manga series was released alongside the TV show, this one drawn by Gosaku Ota, which started and ended almost at the same time of the TV show.
Mazinger Z is a gigantic Super Robot, constructed with a fictitious metal called Super-Alloy Z (Chōgokin Zetto), which is forged from a new element (Japanium) mined from a reservoir found only in the sediment of Japan's Mt. Fuji. The mecha was built by Professor Juzo Kabuto as a secret weapon against the forces of evil, represented in the series by the Mechanical Beasts (mecha used for evil purposes) of Dr. Hell. The latter was the German member of a Japanese archeological team, which discovered ruins of a lost pre-Grecian civilization on an island named Bardos (or Birdos, although some inconsistent translations have identified the island as being the actual Greek island of Rhodes); the civilization was loosely based on the ancient Mycenae, and was called the Mycene Empire in the series. One of their findings was that the Mycene used an army of steel titans about 20 meters in height (compare with the Greek legend of Talos). Finding prototypes of those titans underground which could be remote-controlled and realizing their immense power on the battlefield, Dr. Hell goes insane and has all the other scientists of his research team killed except for Professor Kabuto, who manages to escape. The lone survivor goes back to Japan and attempts to warn the world of its imminent danger. Meanwhile, Dr. Hell establishes his headquarters on a mobile island, and plans to use the Mechanical Beasts to become the new ruler of the world. To counter this, Kabuto constructs Mazinger Z and manages to finish it just before being killed by a bomb planted by Hell’s right-hand 'man', Baron Ashura, a half-man, half-woman being. As he is dying, he manages to inform his grandson Kouji Kabuto about the robot and its use. Kouji becomes the robot’s pilot, and from that point on battles both the continuous mechanical monsters, and the sinister henchmen sent by Doctor Hell in every episode.
Written By: Ken Hulsey Sources: Anime News Network / August Ragone
In April "Mazinger Z" will return in a big way! The famed giant robot franchise is returning both as a brand new animated series, and as a new manga series also.
In the June issue of Champion RED magazine, which hits newsstands April 18th, Go Nagai, will launch a brand-new manga series entitled, "Shin Mazinger Zero". Writer Yoshiaki Tabata and artist Yūki Yogo are combining forces on the new series, which reportedly is an "entirely new Mazinger legend." In other words, hopes to re-launch the series, which came to popularity in the early 1970s'.
Likewise, on April 4th, "Shin Mazinger Shōgeki! Z-Hen" will begin airing on Japanese television. Yasuhiro Imagawa is both directing and writing this new Mazinger series, which, despite rumors to the contrary, is not a remake of the original series. In fact the shows creators are very adamant about making sure everyone understands that "Shin Mazinger Shōgeki! Z-Hen" is not a remake, but a brand-new, unique, series.
Recently, several publications got quite a ear full from the shows production team, when they published the term, "remake" in articles about the series.
Go Nagai and his Dynamic Planning studio, along with Shinji Takeuchi, are designing the main characters, while Bandai's Tsuyoshi Nonaka is designing the Mazinger Z robot and the franchise's trademark enemies, the Kikaijū (mechanical monsters). Akira Miyagawa is reportedly composing the music, and BEEMEDIA and CODE are producing the animation.
It has been over a decade since Banpresto approached Go Nagai about creating an advanced version of his famous mecha, the Great Mazinger, for the later stages of their Super Robot Wars video game. The design Nagai came up with, Mazinkaiser, is arguably the most powerful mecha ever created. The robot proved to be so popular that it was eventually added to the Mazinger canon (storyline). In 1999 a seven episode OVA (Original Video Animation) anime series was produced to tell the origin of the mecha.
"Mazinger Z" aired here in America under the name "Tranzor Z" shortly after "Robotech" became popular. Many American children also got to play with a 3 foot tall Mazinger, which was released as part of Mattel’s Shogun Warrior line of toys in the late 1970s’.
Mazinger Z Jumbo Grendizer 24-Inch Figure Description:
Bigger and badder! Classic mecha figure!
Must have for any mecha fanatic!This 24-inch tall Jumbo Grendizer is the perfect size to get a sense of how strong this Go Nagai's robot can be in the 80's anime hit. A unique piece for all Mazinger Z fans or collector of giant robots. Made of high quality vinyl and finely painted this piece has articulation at the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, knees and feet. Sculpted in Japan by HL Product.
Earlier this week I found a very humorous Korean TV commercial that featured Robot Taekwon V attempting to squeeze through a toll booth. After posting that video I was contacted by reader, DaiRaion, who mentioned that there was an even funnier commercial featuring the giant robot at a gas station. I took some time to look for the clip with no avail, until this morning I was contacted by DaiRaion again with the location of the video.
This time around a gas station patron begins filming a couple of hotties who are on location as part of a promotion. One of the models gets really angry at the man who was filming the pair and begins a verbal and physical argument with him. Suddenly Robot Taekwon V shows up and begins searching the gas station for something. An attendant tries to give the huge robot a fill-up, but that isn't what it wants. In a surprise move the mech uses its robot-punch to steal a small electronic device, which looks like a radar detector, from the car of the man who was filming the ladies earlier. Well at least that's what I think is going on.....my Korean is a bit rusty....okay, I don't know any Korean, so I guessed. It's a funny clip regardless.....enjoy!
Written By: Ken Hulsey Sources: Avery Guerra / Twitch / RobotTaekwonV (via Youtube)
Hold on to your butts giant robot fans around the world, because we have two, count em, two brand new videos for you featuring Korea's greatest defender, and Mazinger clone, "Robot Taekwon V". The first features some great test animation shots, for a live-action film adaptaion of the hugely popular series that first aired in Korea back in 1976 after fans went ga-ga for the Japanese animed robot feature, "Mazinger." This brand new movie is being directed by Won Shin-yeon of "Seven Days and A Bloody Aria" fame. The production is being handled by Shin Cine (My Sassy Girl), and the budget is estimated at 20 billion Korean Won (over 20 million USD). CGI and visual effects are done by a consortium of Korean VFX companies, including Macrograph , Mofac, Insight Visual, DTI (Digital Tetra Inc.) , and EON Digital Films.
I think its safe to say that this new version of "Taekwon V" will never be mistaken for the Japanese "Mazinger Z!"
Our second vid is of a great Korean TV spot featuring the giant robot walking down the highway, and for some reason, crawling under a set of signs and trying to squeeze through a toll station. I guess you really got yo know Korean to get the drift of this one, but it is a great clip none-the-less.
Released in 1976, the original Robot Taekwon V (known as Voltar the Invincible in the U.S.) was the first Korean animated feature film. In 2005, it also became the first Korean film to undergo full digital restoration – a process that took three years to complete. The newly restored film premiered at the 10th Pusan International Film Festival, and enjoyed a successful theatrical release on 170 screens in 2007.
Now, this iconic, taekwondo-kicking robot is set for the live action/CGI update. Planned to be released in 2009 (and to go head-to-head with The Transformers 2 in the Korean market), Robot Taekwon V (2009) is directed by WON Shin-yeon of Seven Days and A Bloody Aria fame. Production is handled by Shin Cine (My Sassy Girl), and the budget is estimated at 20 billion Korean Won (over 20 million USD). CGI and visual effects are done by a consortium of Korean VFX companies, including Macrograph , Mofac, Insight Visual, DTI (Digital Tetra Inc.) , and EON Digital Films.
The Japanese giant-robot anime Mazinger Z (1972) was popular in South Korea at the time of Robot Taekwon V's creation, and Kim Cheong-gi freely discusses the influence of Mazinger Z on his cartoon, saying he wanted to create a Korean hero for Korean children. In order to emphasize the Korean ties of the film, he had leading characters perform the traditional martial art, taekwondo, and gave the robot the ability to do taekwondo kicks.[ While Korea has become the global hive for animation outsourcing (Korean studios now work on most Japanese anime feature films) 1970's Korea had a very different vibe to modern day South Korea. Bitter memories of the brutal occupation of Korea by Japan were still fresh in the minds of many. Chongi Kim's Taekwon V proudly bares the helmet the legendary Korean Admiral Yi Sunsin wore in his quests to fend off Japanese annexation. In a very real sense Taekwon V is a national hero representing the fight for freedom from Japan and independence
The sequel, "Super Taekwon V", had taken designs from "Gundam" and "Xabungle".
In the original film Dr. Kaff (or Dr. Cops in Korean), an evil scientist bent on world domination, creates an army of giant robots to kidnap world-class athletes and conquer the world. To fight off this attack, Dr. Kim creates Robot Taekwon V. Kim Hoon, the taekwon-do champion eldest son of Dr Kim, pilots Robot Taekwon V either mechanically or through his physical power by merging his taekwon-do movements with the robot. Comic relief is provided by Kim Hoon's younger brother, elementary school student Kim Cheol. He has fashioned himself as "Tin-Can Robot Cheol" by cutting eyeholes in a tea kettle and wearing it on his head. Kim Hoon's girlfriend, Yoon Yeong-hee, is a pilot and taekwon-do practitioner. She can also operate Robot Taekwon V with buttons and levers, and pilots Kim Hoon in and out of the robot.