The return of a lost fighter? - A 1UP classic from October 16, 2008

Hello friends, what are you up to? Things could be better over here. I shouldn't have gloated about the brownies yesterday. It seems that karma does not like gloaters. I got a parking ticket at work because I forgot to display my staff permit. I'll see if the school can do anything about it since I am staff, only I forgot to put up the permit. Then at home one of the light sockets went out. It's another wiring issue in the old house and the money is running out before the family can do something about it. Going to have to squeeze the belt tighter to take care of things.

I'll just focus on videogames and my lawn before things get worse. The other day it was announced than another classic fighting game would return. Given the momentum that SF IV and KOF XII are generating it was only a matter of time before other fighters were resurrected. The weapons-fighting game Battle Arena Toshinden is coming back on the Wii. Kotaku stole the news from Famitsu about this release.

Despite getting four titles over it's lifespan, Toshinden was always a sub-par fighting game. It was proof that even the Japanese were not immune to cashing in on the fighting craze of the 90's. It played ugly and looked worse. It was slow and cumbersome, with music and sound effect that were laughable by early-90's standards. It truly was forgettable compared to the hits of the era.

Toshinden is almost lost to history but is actually more than a footnote in the era of fighters. It was the first 3D fighter to use weapons, it came out in 1994, a full year before Soulcalibur and one year after the debut of Samurai Spirits. Toshinden debuted in the same year as Tekken. It represented the changing tide of technology and in bringing arcade graphics to home consoles. Toshinden, like Tekken, were arcade titles and 1st generation Playstation games. They looked almost indistinguishable between home and arcade. The only problem for Toshinden was how bad it looked and played when compared to Tekken, Virtua Fighter or Samurai Spirits.

The only memorable things to come from the franchise were the character designs. Director Masami Obari and character designer Tsukasa Kotobuki had a field day creating animé-friendly, in some cases, bouncy-breasted archetypes. Feathery-haried, wafish protagonists with long swords swords battling oafish brutes with clubs. Funny how it pre-dated Final Fantasy VII by three years. Too bad that the designs and the actual polygon models were worlds apart. Perhaps the Wii is powerful enough to do a remake justice. We'll see as more news from this game develops. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Robo-D, the tiny Disney robots from Japan. A 1UP Classic...

Friends, today we're going to look at my favorite capsule toys, the Robo-D series by Yujin. The parent company Takara Tomy has been in the business for a long time and has the Disney license for a number of unique products. I had mentioned the detailed figures the company produced with the Epic Mickey capsule toys blog. Many years prior they released a series of figures that were absolutely brilliant. The 1-inch plastic robots shaped after the Disney mascots were among the most unique figures I had ever seen. A decade ago I had seen these figures in a Japanese toy magazine. I knew that they would never appear in the US and was saddened with that realization. The tiny figures were meant to be won in capsule toy (vending machine) prizes and not for sale in any Disney park. However there were stores that did nothing but sell these prizes directly to the consumer. My big brother surprised me by tracking down the set and giving them to me for my birthday almost a decade ago.

The figures were reminiscent of classic wind-up tin toys. The small rivets, boxy proportions, tubes and dials that made up the details were amazing. The hard plastic figures looked as if they were metal toys. The initial release featured Pluto, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald. On the backs of the figures were wind up keys featuring the initial of the character. They had the illusion of being wind-up toys but the arms, legs and keys were simply springs. The figures did not move. Yujin did release a set of figured that did move but they were larger and did not quite have the same proportions or charm of the original Robo-D series.

As the years progressed Yujin would revisit or update the line. They released a matte painted version of the figures called the Robo-D Zero version, a 5-inch version of Mickey, Minnie and Goofy and keychain versions of the original lineup as well. A few years ago they revisited the line and added new members. Robo-D version 2.0 featured Pete, Popotto (a Japanese character), Mickey with wheels and a paint gun, Winnie the Pooh and Bambi. The new figures kept the same color scheme and proportions of the original cast. As he was in animated form so too did the Pete figure impose over the rest of the cast. Pete was the heftiest of all, he was about 2 inches tall and about 2 inches wide as well.

The figures were instantly collectable and something not really seen in the west. They married the classic Disney designs with a nostalgia of tin robot toys that never existed.

The most recent Robo-D release, Version 3.0, saw more familiar faces but also a bold redesign for Donald. The updated Duck featured him riding atop a UFO sporting a removable visor.

The new lineup also updated Mickey slightly, with a large rocket booster belt. The new robots included Chip and Dale, Daisy and Popotto's girlfriend. Disney fans and collectors owe it to themselves to track down these figures. It might be hard to find the first generation of figures but V.2 and V.3 still appear in circulation. Thanks to eBay it has never been easier to collect rare items from around the world.

Happy hunting!

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