i think the space trooper robot is dropping at the Kaiju Komrades hoe-down.
Personally I am really enjoying the new standards - my guess is that these are probably classic figures that Toygraph has always dreamed of making - and now has the resources thanks to Space Troopers being such a hit.
pure speculation of course.

Thanks Peter....

now were talking....

From the chest plate, we are assuming this is in the same scale as the troopers. if so, awesome!!!! Just what the doctor ordered....

i'm psyched for this new edition to the Troopers line up.....more, more!!!

Totally feeling the ro-butt...but has there been any new word on the Death 13 head?

From the blog:

2009.03.01 Sunday 19:20
In the meantime, many in the movement, and delay the shipment of essential items if the flap.
Some of our customers, "not again!" You also may give up half of the moderate and I'm ashamed. Really.
Death13 that have kept you waiting, it will break with this week・・・.

Cool. I will have to try to grab him in Nakano or something next week.

That new robot sculpt is pretty freaky. What the heck, a robot with a skull on the chest ?

Deathbot?

Lost me with the coloured vinyl...

Um. Hmm...

Wow those guys are great! Totally could see these in some 5 and dime back in the 60s.

Instead, we will see them in some $50 and $100 in the next month or two.

It's ok the next big thing will breeze through skullbrain and we'll see them here for $20 - $40 shipped.

Still too much.

oh my those things are horrible

Man! They really fucked these up!

nah.

not feeling the lower half of body.
colors are crappy.

my eyes
my eyes
must avoid

A helmet for a robot?

Hmmmm....

Those are awesome! Kinda don't care for the racecar numbers though.

For the curious, the "Sandwich Man" robot vinyl is based on a design from the 1962 movie Yousei Gorasu/Gorath. I can't figure out the exact significance of its role in the movie, but Marusan has also produced a vinyl toy from this character.



Image from Ichibanboshi website.

I think once they get painted the robots will go well with this set...

I forgot about that set and the matching colours.
I was just hoping for something darker, maybe in a future release.

The grey was pretty cool but now they have lost all their menace. Even the Gatling Gun looking arms are silly in these poppy colors. And no skull breastplate? They should tip it over flat on it's back and put wheels on it's sides. That might work.

The mixed vinyl colors definitely give them a bag-of-plastic-army-guys level of cheapness. Grocery store toy isle toys. The stickers don't help. If the price were right I'd actually like a set, just to play around with and use for pics, but something tells me they'll be just as costly as the rest of the trooper-size toys. They just look like the sort of thing I'd expect to pay $3.99 for a big bag of em. Maybe if they come as a set, and the price weren't too far off, I'd pick em up.

I think there is a strong sense of nostalgia attached to cheap-o plastic robots in Japan, given that they were sort of universally accessible to children of that era. Matt Alt has a great article on his blog regarding these:

http://altjapan.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/08/omake.html

I even acquired a few of these toys (unwittingly) since they were imported by stores like Shirokiya and Marukai in Hawaii back in the day.

Granted that doesn't seem to justify the premium price attached to Troopers, but I understand the appeal. If you're familiar with Atlantic's Galaxy Series of toys, there are similarities there as well.