Japanese Toy Stores: 1984

When I think of toy shopping in 1984 I think of K-Mart, Transformers and G.I.Joe. I often wonder what it would have been like to shop in a toy store in Japan during that same era. Thanks to the magic of photography, I can get an idea.

At the same time I was saving money to buy a Huffer, or Firefly figure, these kids were going home with Bioman, Mospeada or Diaclone toys.

Bandai: MACHINE ROBO MANGA

In the early days of the Machine Robo franchise Bandai opted to forgo a animated television series for printed media advertising. Not the best of options of course, and rectified in 1986 with the Revenge of Chronos series debut. To say the print campaign was a failure however would be a great mis-representation of what the "Machine Robo Club" was. Part of that media blitz in the Machine Robo Club was toy news, mailed in custom pictures, create your own Machine Robo character contests and monthly comics. There were a few different points in time where Machine Robo manga comics were printed, each at a different stage of the original 80's toy line. The first series focused mostly on the original toys up to about 1985. In 1986 the focus shifted to the Revenge of Chronos era, and the stories and art changed to reflect that. In 1987 the manga followed the then current Battle Hackers storylines.

This blog gives you a look at the first series of Machine Robo manga, this one featuring the introduction of the Battle Armor 5 power suits system. Yes it's very kiddified and simple, but the toy line was for kids after all.

note: Comic reads from right to left. I've made a few arrow notes in some panels to show this.