Posted on September 18, 2022

Vintage toys and products

By the time Votoms first hit the airwaves in April 1983, systems and patterns for mecha anime merchandising were in full swing thanks to big success stories like Gundam and Dougram. This meant Votoms would have a healthy lineup of model kits, toys and other products to support its broadcast. But it was still a little too early to know exactly what age the core viewers were, so products were designed to appeal to children as well as teens and young adults, even if the show itself was over their heads.

Here’s everything I’ve found from the early years. Some items set new standards while others vanished from the playing field. Any time you go rummaging through early 80s anime merch, it’s a bit like revisiting your high school yearbook; fun and nostalgic with some amount of embarrassment.

Click here for a gallery of vintage model kits.

1/48 Scopedog “Perfect Pla Type”

Seven produced a line of three 1/48 miniatures that came with a small assortment of weapons that plugged into various attachment points. Each stood about 3″ tall. About 20 years later, Takara would team up with Tomy to create a much more elaborate line in the same scale called “Actic Gear.”

1/48 Brutishdog “Perfect Pla Type”

The Brutishdog had the same weapons assortment as the Scopedog, which was an odd choice since (A) it doesn’t have a right hand and (B) it never once picked up a weapon in the TV series.

1/48 Snapping Turtle “Perfect Pla Type”

The Snapping turtle suffered from an unfortunate “knock-knee” situation in that its legs weren’t far apart enough for the swamp clogs to clear each other. Thus, they always overlapped.

Battling Combination

Seven teamed up with another company called Poem to make this playset containing both miniature A.T.s and vehicles, though they were not in scale with each other.

These A.T.s were about 2″ tall with plastic limbs attached to a metal torso. Interestingly, they changed color from one set to the next.

It was also an unusual choice for the time: a Scopedog, a Tortoise, and a Fatty. The Fatty didn’t appear until the show was more than half over, so it may have actually debuted as a 2″ miniature before anyone animated it.

The four vehicles were the same from set to set, single-piece diecast miniatures. The space fighter (second from left above) was another mecha that didn’t show up until later in the series.

ST-Tortoise “Super Anime Model Series”

At least one of those 2″ miniatures was broken out and sold separately, also a co-production of Seven and Poem. It bears the distinction of using very rare art on the box, derived from development material as opposed to the finished anime design.

Battling Combination 2-pack

Seven also used the “Battling Combination” branding for a completely separate product, this pair of all plastic figures at a different scale from those in the box set: one Scopedog and one Tortoise.

Single figure pack

If your allowance didn’t cover a 2-pack, Seven also broke them out into singles, as long as you didn’t mind them looking like chewing gum.

Votoms Pack Mini

One more item from Seven was this quick-and-dirty combo pack of gum rubber A.T.s…

…which came in several styles and colors…

…and was one of (if not THE) first toy lines to include a vehicle (such as it is).

Then there’s this oddball. The lack of identifying marks probably makes it a knockoff with several different Seven miniatures pirated onto a single blister card.

More gum-rubber A.T.s and vehicles either from the same source or not.

As the master licensor, Takara made all the best stuff and gave permission to other companies like Seven, Union, and Kabaya to make toys and models in other scales.

Want to read an article about these toys? Click here for a PDF of Super 7 magazine issue 13!

Choro Q Scopedog

“Choro Q” was Takara’s version of “Super Deformed,” referring to a shortened, squashed, or otherwise re-proportioned version of a robot. “Choro Q” toys had a common gimmick in that you could rotate parts of the body to turn it into a roller-bot with a friction motor.

For the Scopedog, this gimmick had the added advantage of looking a lot like the “downform” version of the A.T.

In later years, Takara reissued four of its “Choro Q” robots in this amazing 4-pack…

…featuring the Scopedog, Giant Gorg, Galient, and Dougram all in one superstar box.

1/6 Chirico Cuvie action doll

Foot-tall action dolls were never as popular in Japan as they were in America or other countries, but Takara still graced us with this 12″ Chirico.

The main body was complete, but various parts still needed attention; they were all packed in “unfinished” form, needed to be sliced out of their vinyl molding and attached in one way or another. The Armor Magnum and air hose were nicely rendered in diecast metal.

1/6 Fyana action doll

Can’t have the guy without his girl to back him up. Fyana came with a hairless head that could fit into her helmet, but featured no other accessories.

1/60 A.T. Collection Series

Takara made seven miniatures in this line, all of which came in unique packaging and were a combo of plastic and metal.

See them all here.

1/35 Joint Models

These two sets were beautifully made with lots of option parts, essentially toy versions of Takara’s model kits in the same scale. Both had spring-loaded projectiles to sweeten the deal.

See them all here.

1/24 Dual Models

The Dual Models were Takara’s masterpiece, tough as nails and built to last. Standing 6.5″ tall, they were the perfect proof of concept for Kunio Okawara’s original intention to design an anime mecha that didn’t have to be modified. Multiple versions were made and reissued over the years, always manifesting the ideal combo of design and execution.

See them all here.

Ro-Warrior toy by Echo

This is definitely NOT a Takara toy, and you may wonder what the hell it’s doing here, but look closer and you’ll find the answer.

I first stumbled across this ugly brute in a local department store in 1985 or so, and was transfixed by its blatant cannibalization of the Scopedog’s head and leg parts.

Evidently, it could transform into several equally ill-conceived configurations, but would always look at you through a Scopedog’s visor as if to say, “Help…me…”

I can remember holding this box in my hand for far too long, studying it to see if there was any way to rescue the components and turn it back into a Scopedog, but it just wasn’t possible to undo the vile works of whatever Frankenstein was turned loose upon it.

Okay, clear your mind. Back to Japan we go.

Votoms put both war and nudity on the screen in the first half of the first episode, but that didn’t stop books like these from becoming the first you could buy. Needless to say, they strike a completely different tone and have almost nothing to do with the show itself.