1983
Japanese toy-maniacs know him as GoLion, but this is actually an American toy from LJN called the "Giant Commander Voltron." It's made from the same mold as the original Popy Jumbo Machinder, though.

The LJN and Popy versions are essentially the same, with a few notable differences. For one thing, LJN figured they couldn't sell a simple plastic robot toy and decided to stick the sucker atop a boxy, motorized base. (Kids could control the movement of Voltron--barely--using a hard-wired remote control box.) The Popy version also had a pair of missile racks on the thighs and launchers mounted in the lion- mouth hands. The missiles were even color-coded to match the color of the legs. LJN presumably removed the shooting mechanism to avoid problems with toy safety-standards. But perhaps to make up for this, they gave the toy a huge "blazing sword" -- something the original never came with! Way to go!

One of the great things about the LJN Giant Commander Voltron is that once you remove it from that motorized base, you've got something that's nearly as cool as the original Popy Golion Jumbo -- but at a literal fraction of the price. Sure, there are sticker differences and no missiles, but it's a pretty close match.

Matt Alt

(Want to check out the Popy version? Here's two pics we stole from a recent Yahoo Japan auction: Front • Back )