VINTAGE 1970s TAKEMI MACHINE BLASTER ASTRO BASE MINI GOKIN

Machine Blaster (Burokka Gundan 4 Mashin Burastar in Japan) was a cartoon series that aired in the late 70s. It featured four super robots and they can combine to form a giant fire ring weapon that destroy their enemies. Similar to Mazinger concept, the heroes are young pilots of 'Freedom' (sort of a fighter jet) that forms the head of the robots. These robots are stationed in an Astro base.

This was the first Japanese robot cartoon I watched as a kid. I liked it and I also like the opening theme song. Recently I got the Takemi Machine Blaster Astro Base mini Gokin as a gift. This is one interesting toy. It was targeted for kids but after checking it out, there are a few issues. Before that, let's take a look at the packaging.

The instructions are printed on the back of the box.

The Astro Base comes with a pack of mini robots.

Just like the cartoon, the head detaches fom the robot body and can be played as the Freedom Jet. The issue is these robots are super tiny. See picture of my index figure in size comparison to these tiny robots. They are about 1" tall. The Freedom fighters are super duper tiny and they can easily get lost if played by kids. And the antennae on robots 1-3 heads can easily snap off too. Guess that's why Takemi gave 3 of each of these robots. These issues aside, I am really amazed at how Takemi can manufactured these tiny robots with detaching head!

The body of the Astro base is diecast. It has satelite dish and gun turrets all around. But it doesn't have any firing play feature.

The play feature of the Astro Base is actually docking stations for the Freedom fighters and robot bodies. The top part of the base have four mini docking stations for the fighters.

The lower part of the base have tiny drawers, that when it is pull out, it pops up the mini robot bodies.

Finally the base can be saparated and the top part of the base can be played as a big spaceship.

Here are some comparison of the cartoon characters and the toy. It is quite screen accurate.

The issues with this toy are

- the tiny robots that easily gets lost or broken, or even a choking hazard for younger kids

- lack of firing mechanism play feature that was common during the robot toys of the 70s

But this is still a very nice addition to my vintage Japanese Robots toys collection.