Leo McKern’s Japanese voice is perfect.

In the penultimate episode, “Once Upon a Time”, the prisoner lets slip the closest explanation ever given for why he resigned: “Peace of mind”.

Interestingly, the Japanese version (retitled “最後の対決”, “The Final Showdown”) changes the answer: “自由になりたかった”, “I wanted to be free.”

Have you even seen The Prisoner, if it wasn’t in the original Japanese?

Prisoner No.6 (プリズナーNo.6) originally aired in Japan from March 2nd - June 22nd 1969.

Transformers also made a minor change to the mold, to strengthen the legs.

It was a good idea, the legs on this figure have snapped and been glued back on maybe three or four times.

G.I. Joe Legacy Firefighter dual-wields tiny hand axes, because his other hand was just uselessly not chopping stuff

“Aw yeah, I’m gonna chop that fire so good!”

Why does the Legacy G.I. Joe Firefighter come with two little hand axes?

I figure he either throws them like a carnival act, or he’s the Benihana chef of firefighters

1. G.I. Joe was using drones in 1983

2. They put a flamethrower on it

3. It was worth half a flag point

Oh no

It would be the absolute worst thing ever if these get really popular, and Takara finds out.

But I could see he was also bidding on three other Dinobots from the same seller, and these were all ending at the same time.

So I went and outbid him on two I didn’t want, just so he’d be busy changing the amounts on those.

Now that I think about it, I might be the reason eBay hid usernames.

A long time ago, eBay didn’t hide the usernames of people bidding against you.

So there was this guy bidding against me on a Grimlock, and it was going back and forth, each of us increasing the amount as the clock ticked down.

If someone tries to outbid you at the very last second, but it doesn’t work and you still win the auction…

How do you send them a Venmo request for the extra money they just cost you for no damn reason?

Diaclone Powered Suit 202X A Type

Bad news: the new Matchbox Motocompo is too big for a Dianaut.

Good news:

When a blog shuts down, all of the intrusive watermarks on their images should fade away, like a wizard’s curse being lifted by their death.

Many call these two “silver” and “gold”, and that’s fine… until you see the Future Command Card prize version.

Because this thing would make cartoon prospectors dance around.

It is very hard to describe the subtle differences of the Micro Change Gun Robo figures’ chrome, without sounding like some pretentious jerk describing wines.

The chrome on the original red version is cool and dark, while the later blue release is bright and warm, almost like rose gold.

That’s the Machine Robo ambulance. It was imported in GoBots as “Rest-Q”.

Indeed! Robotech Robolinks, “The Most Transformable Robots in the Galaxy”

blockmanlink.wixsite.com/home/robolinks

Now, as an adult, oh absolutely, no contest. But at the time, GoBots were crazy popular with kids, too.

Unfortunately for Tonka, their whole strategy was $2 robots. They really struggled to play catch up, and throw bigger toys together, once they found out the market wanted it.

When the Christmas 85 robot craze hit, EVERYTHING sold well, no matter the price, $35 Omega Supreme or a $2 Leader-1.

Both companies struggled to make enough product for demand, and Hasbro even made fewer Transformers than GoBots, but they still made more money because they had varied price points.

I’m always hesitant about that, because as tempting as it is, sometimes it feels like the winners rewriting history.

Steve the Evil King Macrocranios did a really great deep dive using newspaper articles from the time, exploring how Tonka’s low pricing may have been their undoing.

Using that image in your game, movie, or tv show will get it banned from Chinese release. Because so few of the regular citizens in China are aware of the iconic photo, no one knows to look for him. In fact, if he’s still alive, he probably doesn’t know anyone took his picture that day.

Interesting thing about that photo of the guy who stood down the tanks at Tiananmen Square. He’s never been identified, and one reason it’s been so difficult is how heavily censored the image is in China. Most people who come to the US from China say they’d never seen it before.

Aquaboy DigiRobo came so many different colors:
utdesign.net/tokima/

Those locks got multiple US releases, official and otherwise. Secondary market isn’t awful, $40 - $50 in package. More if you want “Dr. Lock”.

I have the Micro Change lock robots, and agree, what I use them for has zero value.

How did I miss Blockman? Also in armor which are slightly different colors from the commercial release.

I’m not really familiar with it. Are these guys all in the same show?

5/5

I’m 100% sure it’s too late to enter these contests, but to be honest, I’ve also never tried.

You could go ahead and it a shot, I mean, what have you got to lose?

4/5

Wow, this is probably the fifth prototype of Train Robo with slightly different colors I’ve found so far.

3/5

Oh look, it’s a prototype Micro Change Magnum Robo! Not only clearly handmade and sporting a different head, but he’s also carrying the sword which would later be given to Walther Robo, aka “Megatron”.

2/5

I assume the larger images will get compressed, so I’m including some zoomed in shots of the Diaclone and Micro Change stuff.

1/5

Every month TV Magazine ran a contest, giving away toys provided by the companies.

These were colorful fold-out spreads with an overwhelming number of robot toys. Interestingly, the images used were often prototypes.

Nothing really worth translating, so just enjoy some pictures of robots.