Yet Another Godaikin/SG Tetsujin question

[godaiking]

So I finally gave into the pressure/desire of getting the Godaikin Tetsujin. Got a very good price on a boxed one off Ebay.

Everything was great, but then I checked the bottom of the foot. Instead of the "Made In Japan" white sticker that's usually on the bottom of the foot, It says "Japan" printed within in the plastic (like the Chokinzoku version).

So the question is: did Bandai release the original Japanese market Tetsujins in America back in 82 and then when supplies exhausted, started releasing the toy with newer "Made In Japan" stickers on the bottom of the foot?

It kinda reminds of the Transformers G1 Prowl I have that's sealed that has Diaclone markings on it.

[repairtechjon]

Others have more first hand variant experience , but I remember two big indicators are the amount that the yellow eyes area is painted, and the tint of blue plastic for the main body.

It seems the majority of the characters for the Godaikin line have these same questions.
Godaikin simply was not a "pure" line of manufacturing runs, using some first or second run Popy stock, then reruns of the tooling later. More or less so for various robot characters.

There has been discussion here, with examples of SG-01, of both variations of production found in Godaikin boxes, but finding the old threads is rough.
Ed or Eric would have first hand info.

I find just knowing the inconsistency is gonna be there, takes stress off buying Godaikin .

[Mr. Ginrai]

I definitely would say transition piece, plain and simple. Leftovers from original stock or a particular factory or toyline run.

We all know these are basically popy toys and foam inserts and box bottoms with little or no changes (sometimes decal colors changed a bit on Voltes, or like you said the markings on tetsujin's feet) and then they just slapped on overlays and box lids printed in English with different graphics.

The same thing happened with golion - and we have seen/verified it changed from flat out early popy style in a godaikin box, to a mish mash of lions, to a near matchbox like godaikin set toward the end of the run and factory transition.

Its highly likely that the same thing happened if you go all the way to the popy volt in box - aside from the different color elbows, and features like pens or little monsters, the bulk of the toys was the same and most likely produced with running quantities of stock on hand/overstock, either by particular parts or whole figures.

This is the most likely and most plausible explanation for your figure because it would have been ludicrous (and not to mention cost ineffective, back then or recently) for someone to bother switching an sg-01 into a godaikin box and vice versa.

I wouldn't worry and congrats - enjoy the hell out of that toy. Good question though.

[Mr. Ginrai]

Ah, Jon kind of beat me to it by a hair!

But he is also right about the eyes - the popy sg-01 has lower eye visors that are not chromed/masked the same so there is too much exposed yellow on the eye lenses - a reason why I actually prefer the godaikin one.

As far as the difference in color that is also individual opinion. I for one think the damn things all started out the same color and that they changed the dye mix over time. So we have seen that the popy batches seem to be darker with age than the godaikins which are more blue or blue-black than the very dark blackish navy of the SG-01. I bet if we had some crisp color images of someone getting their SG-01 back in the early 80s we would see a more recognizable blue color like in the anime. A lot of popy toys were very close color wise to their anime image and it doesn't make sense to me that they would have produced that figure (the sg-01) in that dark of a color originally.

[repairtechjon]

Yep!
In all this , back in the day the only concern was filling orders to put stock on shelves.
How that happens isn't cared about when sales are hopping.
LOL, none of this hand-wringing we collectors sometimes fall into now, but the details are interesting.

[godaiking]

Apr 29, 2013 21:47:07 GMT -5 repairtechjon said:

Others have more first hand variant experience , but I remember two big indicators are the amount that the yellow eyes area is painted, and the tint of blue plastic for the main body.

It seems the majority of the characters for the Godaikin line have these same questions.
Godaikin simply was not a "pure" line of manufacturing runs, using some first or second run Popy stock, then reruns of the tooling later. More or less so for various robot characters.

There has been discussion here, with examples of SG-01, of both variations of production found in Godaikin boxes, but finding the old threads is rough.
Ed or Eric would have first hand info.

I find just knowing the inconsistency is gonna be there, takes stress off buying Godaikin .

Hmm..interesting.

Well, I got the second version of the SG-01 with masks around eyes. This is easily convertible to a first version after I unscrewed the head out of curiosity and found out it was just a sticker.

I totally take back everything I said in another thread about him being "overated". This piece has so much presence. It's no wonder it goes for the big bucks. Here's some pics of him in my collection:

[chogokin777]

Wow very nice collection sir.. Hoping to have a sg01

[KingboyD]

Wow - the T28 DX looks absolutely tiny in that pic among the giants! LOL

Great collection!

[Mr. Ginrai]

Really, it was a sticker? I thought it was paint masking and or the way the plastic (if any) covered that particular area. Wow.

Anyways toy looks great. And like you said, it's not overrated - just overpriced, like we all talked about in the other thread.

[godaiking]

Thanks everyone. You know what's good about the Tetsujin is that I'm not as paranoid holding it compared to an early gattai piece like Voltes or Combattler (those toys are so fragile!)

[Mr. Ginrai]

Voltes isn't too bad. I have two currently, and until I held it for the first time I thought it would be crazy fragile and its not. Really the blue bottoms of the arms are the biggest issue along with the crewzer pivot.

Combattra is not that bad, but since he's more top heavy, a lot skinnier, and has smaller feet than Voltes, I'd be nervous with him. And I just don't trust those damn suspenders LoL.

[repairtechjon]

Link isn't working right to the gallery/article, but here's one of the old threads on this subject:
www.robotjapan.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Popychogokin&action=display&thread=17771