Ever heard of God Mars? I know I haven't till only recently (a year back I think). Yet I have a diecast toy of this. A classic your-parents-didn't-know-what-you-wanted-for-your-birthday-and-were-out-of-tune-with-what-was-in. So I got a God Mars diecast toy because they knew that I was into giant robots.
Well my Mom anyway because my Dad never really cared about helping when buying toys for the kids. Or maybe just to some of us, because with his favorites he always made sure to buy them something when he came from abroad. Hahaha, ranting. Its hard not to be the favorite in the brood because you grow up feeling unloved after seeing presents being given to your other siblings while you just got chocolates that will be given to everybody else.
The good thing is that it sure helped me to remember to not let that happen to any of my kids...well I only have one kid... hehehe. Things like that that happened when you were young help mold you, luckily I took a positive view of it rather than a negative one. Right now my son is closing in on his birthday and my wife and I went out of our way to buy his favorite toys and hide it from him.
More pictures can be found at the succeeding pages.
Don't get me wrong, I love my Dad and I Thank the Lord each day that I was able to have a father like him. He was just a product of his generation and like his father before him, they chose to act cold and uncaring to their kids in order to instill discipline and obtain respect. In a way I guess it worked because none of us ended up as delinquents or rebels during our teenage years. When I got older and was able to carry a mature conversation with him I was actually quite surprised that he could be such a caring individual and that we had a lot of similar interests.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand. God Mars was an anime series in the early eighties. According to the storyline a little alien child was sent to earth to take over it. But because he was raised well by the humans he made it his adopted home and took to defending it from his own kind. Along with him were 6 robots that were sent along with him that can combine to form the God Mars robot.
According to the stamping at the back of the toy, it was made by Popy. This toy already lost the accessories that came with it. Chiefly the spare arms and even the head of the Sphinx Robot. Also the weapons. It got lost because a relative of mine decided to appropriate the cabinet that my toys were in for themselves without informing me. Tossing what was inside away. The Godmars survived because I kept it at my display shelf. Yes, I was crushed when I found out but couldn't do anything about it because what was done was done.
The robot consists of 6 smaller robots. "Gaia", the red one that goes into the center chest compartment. Its special feature is that its neck can elongate. Also, unlike the other robots, "Gaia" can actually move its feet a bit.
The chest robot is called "Sphinx", its chest expands in order to accommodate the "Gaia" robot. It also had some arm and feet accessories to replicate when it is in its individualist form. The chest door of the Sphinx robot can also be removed. I don't know if this is a feature or its because of the design of the hinge that allows this to happen. There is a small door at the center of the chest, this opens to allow for the head of GodMars to pop out from its storage at the chest.
The white robot on the left arm is called "Uranus". Its head can be pushed down to store it. The button on the back can be pushed in order to eject the head out again. It also had arm accessories. There is also a hole in its feet where the "Big Fist" can be installed when Godmars is formed. The button on the side of the foot ejects the big fist of God Mars.
The green robot on the right arm is called "Titan", it is built similar to Uranus with the popping head and spare arms.
The black robot that serves as one of the feet is called "Shin". It comes with spare arm accessories along with missiles that can be placed on its chest and fired by pressing the button at the back.
The blue and yellow robot that acts as the other foot is called "Ra". Its also equipped similar to "Shin"
This toy is quite old already. Paint chips are evident. The arms droop to the inside because of the wear on the joints. The screws are actually rusted already. This part I'm really surprised about because I hope they don't cause the toy to fall apart.
By the time "Mighty Orbots" came out I was well into my teens already. So I couldn't relate. I played this like any child would have, by using my own imagination and creating my own story. Mighty Orbots was probably the nearest "western" equivalent to this Japanese anime series.
I remember that the story I created was that "Gaia" was a human pilot and that the GodMars robot was an exoskeleton armor. I was pretty much into Iron Man those days *snicker*
Writing this post sure brought back memories of those play times with this toy. It was only when I started writing this post that I remembered how I played with this toy. One reason too why I like posting about my old toys, because it sure brings back great memories.
I could say that this toy was a transition toy, because I was nearing my teens already. By that time I was about ready to leave my childish ways and move to stuff that "men" worry themselves with.
