Sunday, December 24, 2006

The Lost Triple Changer...

On my old 2005 blog, which I posted on faithfully for a whole *week*, I posted this Korean robot anime site (in Korean):

http://home.paran.com/yanus91/koanimain.html


I wished then to see these mysterious programs. The next spring, Joseph Lai and Digiview Entertainment answered my wish for $1 each. May the metaphorical gods damn them! (These things are *INSANE* - how in the world can the Koreans manage to make them so *boring*!?)

While searching for Goldwing after hearing the "wonderful in an awful way" (or "awful in a wonderful way") theme song by "Gigi" (?) in this AWO podcast (at 35:02), I came across this page, thinking it was some sort of Micro Change ripoff, and spotted this design:

His blades quiver with delight.

(Plenty more pictures of this fellow at the site itself. Also starring a Valkyrie, Don Zauser from DAITARN 3, and Godmars robots with Golion heads).

This is the creatively named "Helicopter Type" triple changer from the tail end of the Diaclone line that was never made into a Transformer, unlike the "Jet Fighter Type" (Blitzwing). The shuttle/train changer Astrotrain was apparently planned for the tail end of the line, but never released until Transformers began.

I've never seen a Transformer fanfic backstory for this guy, although someone has to have written one. It's not too hard to figure out why it wasn't released for the Transformer line - the robot mode looks pretty lame. Those blades have to get in the way, although the poseability of the Triple Changers was pretty limited. The Korean animation actually makes the design look better than the toy. Has that ever happened before - or again?

This is another Diatron-5 situation - I want to see the Lost Triplechanger animated, but at what price? (I'm not talking about the dollar - I'm talking about my sanity. Which is admittedly pretty much gone anyway).

I never found Goldwing, due to the fact that I (gasp!) don't read Korean. Maybe this Tekkamazinger Gundan IV Machine Blaster anime is it (only going on the page title), but I doubt it.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is ??? ??? ?? 3 (ROBOT ARMY AND MECHA 3). Yes, Mecha 3 is the creative Korean name for the Diaclone 'Triple Changer Helicopter Type'. Its color scheme is presumably chosen-in-Korea, as the Japanese toy only came in blue as far as I know. Here are photos of the toy:

http://www.diaclone.net/orid/diatri/d092.html

I don't know why Hasbro never brought it over. (And I don't know how Mecha 3 turns from blue to purple when switching from vehicle to robot mode.)

The "Robot Army" consists of

?? A (Thunder A; a Korean original?)
http://home.paran.com/yanus91/koani/pic/thua_2.jpg

?? 123 (Solar 123; the Godmars robots with the wrong heads)
http://home.paran.com/yanus91/koani/pic2/solar_1.jpg

?? V (Gundam V; the Valkyrie)
http://home.paran.com/yanus91/koani/pic2/spgd_1.jpg

And yes,

http://myhome.hanafos.com/%7Epreyoon/koani/gw123.html

is indeed Goldwing (????). Or GOLDWING 123, to be precise.

Goldwing 1 is the superhero identity of the orphan O Hyeon:
http://home.paran.com/yanus91/koani/pic/gw123_ch1b.jpg

Goldwing 2 is his panther robot / aircraft:
http://home.paran.com/yanus91/koani/pic/gw123_2ho.jpg
http://home.paran.com/yanus91/koani/pic/gw123_2hob.jpg

Goldwing 3 is another name for ???? (Bronze Titan): http://home.paran.com/yanus91/koani/pic/gw123_arm1.jpg

-?

3:25 PM  
Blogger Leopardon said...

Thanks for the translations! Also thanks for the Diaclone.net link - I wasn't able to navigate to the toy list from the front page.

You'd think some version of Goldwing would have...um, gold wings? :) Of course, you'd also think Brone Titan would be bronze.

---Leopardon

9:14 AM  

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