Die Cast Gatchaman Vehicle Toys

Hi all!

The Japanese company Art Storm has announced that they will be releasing a set of high-end die cast toys of the Ninja Team vehicles from the first Gatchaman TV series this December.

These vehicles will be released in two sets of three vehicles each. Set A will consist of the G-1, the G-2, and the Red Impulse. Set B will consist of the G-3 (With Jun), the G-4, and the God Phoenix. The vehicles will be between 10~15cm in length.

Remember that I said these were "high-end die cast toys?" Well, that translates into "high-priced die cast toys." Each set of three vehicles will cost 24,800 yen (Roughly $255.00 at current exchange rates), so buying both sets will set you back 49,600 yen (Roughly $510.00).

While you try to swallow that, here's a couple of photos I've found that show what these toys will look like:

Set A


Set B


If you're feeling rich and decide that you'd like to order them, they will likely be available through places like Hobbylink Japan (http://www.hlj.com/), though they are not listed there yet.

James

These look really great. But honestly, I don't see paying that much when you can get similar vehicles (albeit with no turning wheels) with the Diamond Select action figures for about the same price, or less. And you get the actions figures to boot!

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HA!

Nah. Once again they have come up with a toy that is just too stupidly expensive for what you actually get.

Sure they're great, but come onnnnnn... $500 for the "full" set? That's just stupid.

Kind of insulting, really...

SJ

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Hi all!

I do feel the need to again point out that, while these new toys are indeed similar in shape and color to the plastic toys that Diamond released (Which indeed they should be, considering that they are the of the same vehicles), the scale makes them quite different.

To help emphasize exactly what the difference in scale means, let's do a comparison between the Diamond vehicles and a pair of Gatchaman die-cast toys that were released by Eidai during the original run of Gatchaman.

Here's the G-1:



And here's the G-4:



Yes, I know, the vintage G-4 toy is the wrong color, but it's the size that we're concerned with here. The Diamond G-1 is 7cm long, while the Eidai G-1 is 15cm long. The Diamond G-4 is 5cm long, while the Eidai G-4 is 10cm long. According to the release information, the toys that Art Storm will be releasing will range between 10~15cm, so these vintage toys should be approximately the same size as their modern counterparts will be.

While 5~10cm might not seem like that great a difference, as you can plainly see, it makes quite a difference when you're dealing with toys on that scale. The Art Storm die-cast toys will definitely be more substantial than the Diamond plastic ones.

Does any of this mean that these toys are going to be worth $85.00 apiece, with a requirement that you buy three at a time? That's up to you, and I won't try to make that decision for you. Just don't try to confuse one toy with the other.

James

Those are some great comparisons, James. Thank you for posting!

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Hi all!

Felix Ip's blog, of all places, has put up scans of a Japanese magazine article that shows some close-up pictures of each of these new toys. The images were originally posted on a different Chinese website, hence the Chinese text supered over the images. Anyway, here's what they look like:





James

I agree, Ebony.... but to be fair, if I wanted to spend that much money on Gatchaman merchandise, I'm sure there's a lot more I could be spending it on!

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Hi all!

Art Storm has finally posted a selection of close-up pictures of these toys.

Set A, with the G-1, G-2, and the Red Impulse, can be found here:

Set A



Set B, with the G-3, G-4, and the God Phoenix, can be found here:

Set B



If you would like to order either or both of these, Hobbylink Japan (http://www.hlj.com/) is now accepting preorders for them. If you order them by August 1st, you'll get a 5% discount off of the full retail price.

James

I WANT I WANT I WANT !!!! oh and I WANT

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