1975
You say "Dragon," I say "Dragun." Getta Dragon was the first Japanese robot toy I ever received as a kid. The box was nearly as large as I was; I was completely enthralled by the stoic look on his primary-colored face, and the axe-thrower built into his left arm was about the coolest toy gimmick my five-year-old brain had ever seen. But what really got me was the writing on the stomach. My parents told me it was Japanese, and I must have spent hours contemplating those blocky characters. I saw them as some sort of ancient hieroglyphic language used only by a mysterious robot-priesthood. And looking back, I guess that wasn't really very far from the truth.

Getta Dragon was released as one of the "Shogun Warriors" in America, as many of you undoubtedly remember, and it was among the most popular of the bunch. Amazingly enough, Mattel decided not to screw with the design too much, and the first Mattel version of "Dragun," as he came to be called in the United States, was virtually indistinguishable from the original Popy Jumbo Machinder. Over the years, Mattel churned out several different versions -- one simplified the attachment of Dragun's star-shooting accessory, while another replaced the ultra-cool inverted "V" marks on the legs with a pair of really dumb-looking lightning bolts.

Speaking of that star-shooting mechanism, it's another fondly-remembered toy from my childhood. For those of you who've never seen this toy, it's a boxy attachment for Dragun's left arm that uses a spring to fire ninja-style throwing stars. The earliest Mattel Draguns came packaged with a strap-on version of the thing (don't laugh, you sickos) that attached to either your or Dragun's arm with a vinyl band. (I could never figure out the double buckle mechanism, though, setting the stage for what a mechanical imbicile I'd become in later life.) Later versions dropped the strap for an easily-broken plastic clip. But the most interesting thing about the attachment is that it wasn't actually packaged with the Japanese version of the toy -- it'd been a seperately-sold "power up" accessory called the "Southern Cross." In their desperate quest to provide some sort of play value for the Machinder toys, Mattel tossed it in gratis with their version of Dragon.

Getta Dragon is unquestionably the most commonly encountered of any of the 24" Machinder toys, but don't let that sway you. If you're just starting out, this should be the first piece you aim for -- it's one helluva cool toy.

Matt Alt