Origins of the name Godaikin

[Edward28]

Shaxper and crew,

I thought I would share a finding I made about 6 months ago in regards to the name[glow=red,2,300]Godaikin [/glow] . I believe that I have verified this story as to how that name came to be.

Recently I was talking to one of the owners/ senior workers of Forbidden Planet in NY and he claimed to be an older Bandai worker. Purportedly the design team was stuck on trying to name the conglomeration of these Japanese super robots.

So he ended up, by chance, sticking together the words "God" with the Japanese word "Dai" (that means big).....and the rest is history. So the name roughly means Big Gods, which is how these super robots get treated in Japan.

For those New York, NY visitors out there, you will notice that by entrance in Forbidden Planet is Dancougar. Yep, it was an older 6 foot tall fiberglass Bandai Promo sculpture.

-Ed

[shaxper]

Cool! I'm amazed how careless they were with that though. I've noticed the Japanese tend to be very careful with toy names. I've read entire papers on the significance of the name "Diaclone" (tougher than Super Alloy Z, unbreakable bond with children, etc). I didn't realize until recently that Diakron (The American version of Diaclone) is the same name (Ls and Rs are interchangable to the Japanese) just spelt differently than we're used to seeing it.

[Edward28]

Ahhh!
Diacl(r)one!

I just wish that they managed to package the robots in the same manner. I just love the box art on the Diaclones.

-e-

[shaxper]

The Japanese box art was amazing, but the European box art was very weak. Have you ever seen the French Ceji/Joustra Diaclone boxes? I've heard they had the best box art of them all, but I've only seen a few pics.

[Edward28]

No I never saw the French Jousta boxes. Do you have any links?

Hmm.....a new area to learn about.

I recall seeing European Diaclone Optimus pictures and they relied on Comic like illustrations. My preference is for the more realistic box art with an engineering twist.

-e-

[shaxper]

There was a site that had some, but it's gone now. Unfrotunately, I know of no other place that has scans or pics

[Erik Sjoen]

Almost landed one of the Dancouger store displays a few years back for a pretty good price. I kick myself in the ass all the time for not doing it. Cheesy but still very cool.

[g1]

Erik,

How did you come accross the display? Were you in NY or are there other displays out there?