The Vision Of Escaflowne

The Vision of Escaflowne 

By Ana Bruja-Khayos

To any 30 something today, “The Vision of Escaflowne” or just “Escaflowne” has a special place in our hearts due to the amazing Sword Fighting Giant Mecha Robots.  As a teenager, “Escaflowne” and the “Mobile Suit Gundam Wing” series that aired during the once awesome Cartoon Network “Toonami” programing block was probably one of my favorite anime shows watch after school.  Both stories were awesome because of the giant fighting robots, however Escaflowne always was second place to the Gundam series because the main protagonist Hitomi was always too air headed and sappy for me to relate to. Even till today when I rewatch the series, I mainly enjoy the giant robots more than the complicated and unrealistic love life of Hitomi.

About the Series

Tenku no Esukaturone or The Vision of Escaflowne has been produced into several manga formats, an anime TV series and a movie.  It was first introduced in Japan in the summer of 1996.  The 26 episode series was produced by Sunrise Entertainment and it was directed by Kazuki Akane who is known for working on other anime series like “Mobile Suit Gundam (ZZ, F91, and 0083)”,  “Dragon Warrior”, “Dirty Pair Flash”, “Cowboy Bebop”, “Samurai Champloo”, “Noein” and most recently in 2012 “Code Geass: Akito The Exiled” just to name a few. The Escaflowne series was distributed in several places worldwide by Bandai Entertainment in Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, South Asia and much later on dubbed for other markets.

During the production of the anime Escaflowne, there were two version of the manga that were developed.  The shōnen version (manga mainly marketed to young boys around the ages of 10 years of age and up) “The Vision of Escaflowne” reflected the storyline of the tv show and the other shōjo version (manga marketed towards young girls ages 10 to 18 years of age) retelling the story called “Hitomi-The Vision of Escaflowne”.  Later on there was one more manga shōjo release called “Escaflowne—Energist's Memories”.

After the success of the mangas and anime series, there was one more release in the series called “Escaflowne : The Movie”.  This was a retelling of the original story in a much more shorter span and with and more stylistic production style that was release in 2000. Think of it as an alternate world version of the original 26 episode series.  The movie was very fun but unless you have seen the original series, some of the great background elements, secondary characters, and situations will not be as enjoyable or easily understood.

About the Toys

Bandai Anime Collection Series - Escaflowne

By the early 2000’s Bandai had noticed the a rise in popularity in anime in the overseas and American markets and started pushing their products such as action figures and figurines into these new markets. In collaboration with Bandai America, one of these products was the Bandai Anime Collection Series. This series has five different, at the time popular, anime shows which included “The Big O”, “Outlaw Star”, “Cowboy BeBop”, “Pilot Candidate”  and “The Escaflowne”.  I will say that I have rarely seen the “Pilot Candidate” Ernn-Laties mech figure and it’s the only figure I’ve seen based on the character..

When you first see the images of these figures, you don’t realize how big these figures really are. They are pretty big and heavy for something that comes carded.  Each set comes with a 7 inch figure of the main robot, mecha or ship and two 4.5 inch scale figurines of the main protagonist and supporting character of the show. The figure’s original suggested retail price back was around $15 each but today, if you are lucky, you can find them for around $20-$30 on the low end and around $60-$70 on the high end on the secondary markets.

The Escaflowne set came with the 7 inch Escaflowne figure, and a 4.5 inch figurine of Van and Hitomi.  I personally own this in my collection but is so cool and so hard to find, I just don’t want to remove it out of the package.  

Escaflowne Anime Collection

Flickr RNG link  http://www.flickr.com/photos/ragingnerdgasm/sets/72157632282106475/with/8340017943/

The Transforming Escaflowne

In 2001 Bandai announced that it will create a new Escaflowne figure with the collaboration of Studio Halfeye.  Studio Halfeye is known for creating garage kits that can transform without the need of extra parts or swapping parts.  This was very exciting for Escaflowne fans since the iconic robot in the series had two different modes;  normal or battling mode and the dragon flying mode. Two years after that announcement the world finally got it’s Transforming Escaflowne figures.

The figure is about 8 inches tall in normal mode and about 14 inches long in it’s dragon form.  It features 13 points of articulation that allows you the pose your Escaflowne however you epicly  desire. The figure started reaching collectors hands in November of 2003 and went for a whopping $60 USD back then and believe it or not it still can be found online auctions between $60-$100 with the box. Not too shabby.

I personally got a hold of this wonderful figure and I just could not be happier.  Not because it is just an amazingly well crafted figure but also because it transforms into a frickin dragon.  How many robots you know that do that....  If you do don’t ruin this for me... I’m having a fangirl moment here.

Flickr RNG link

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ragingnerdgasm/sets/72157633285920622/

Note***

My husband Tom was very kind to transform this for me.  It took him about 1 hour from robot to a dragon and several days to get it back to a robot.  While I still love this figure I will have to say that it is a very very big pain to transform.  Here are the YouTube links of the video review, done in two different parts. 

                                                        Transforming to a Dragon

                                          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhaLqrqryLQ

Transforming it back to a Robot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyA1T1sLPOo

But wait there’s more, but they are not as cool.

Believe it or not there are also model a few model kits created by Bandai.  As far as I know there are mainly 3 different model kits.  These are the Guymelefs that are the main focus of the series.  Vans Fanel Guymelef Escaflowne Series 005, Allen Scherazade Series 008, and Dilandau Albatou Series 011.  These are ok but they are small like your standard small scale Gundam models.

Escaflowne Model Kits

There’s also a small figure set of 8 from Kotobukiya. These are your standard small figurines that come in small pieces and you set them up together.

Escaflowne Mini Figures

I’m sure there are more figures but these are the ones I’m aware of.

If you know more know please let us know. :D

Kaiju Lagoon- mini jumbo sized King Joe by Bandai

King Joe was sent by the Pedan aliens as their main weapon to conquer Earth. Arriving on Earth in the form of 4 ships, the Pedan's ultimate weapon laid siege to a naval fleet until they garnered the attention of the Ultraseven crew. By the time they arrived to provide a counter-attack, King Joe was long gone and on to it's next target. As the four ships arrived at a U.N. Embassy they combined to reveal King Joe's full form, a giant frickin' robot with some strange protrusions (ie- giant electrode tits on his head, a rainbow window chest and what I can only describe as bongos on his ass and hips.) Even with the countermeasures hidden at the embassy, King Joe seemed near indestructible.

(pretty decent scenes)

Ultraseven soon showed up to save the day but couldn't seem to breach King Joe's Pedantic Armor. Soon after exhausting a good deal of his energy, Ultraseven found himself pinned to the ground and became the recipient of some absolutely viscious bitch slaps, courtesy of King Joe. At this point Ultraseven decides the best thing to do is pass the fuck out and hope this alien quits pummeling him.

As King Joe turns his back to Ultraseven, the hero lunges forward and knocks King Joe on his glorious golden ass. Incapable of getting back up again(most likely due to his bongo ass), King Joe splits into the four ships and flees with Ultraseven in pursuit.

It was then revealed that the reason for King Joe's attack on the Embassy was due to a scientist who had found a chemical that is highly reactive with Pedantic Armor, which also explained why the Pedan Aliens have come to Earth as well. King Joe returns, arriving in Tokyo Bay where it trashes a few oil tankers till Ultraseven shows back up. King Joe once again totally owns Ultraseven in a pretty decent fight, even though his weakness is getting knocked on his ass. But Ultraseven has a WMD full of that Pedantic reactive chemical which he shoots at King Joe, short-circuiting and destroying the robot once and for all.

King Joe is in my top 5 favorite Ultraman bad guys (in no particular order Baltan, King Joe, Dada, Pestar and Red King). As the Ultraman story evolves, so do his villains but this version of King Joe is my favorite. No techno cannon, no monotone paint scheme, just very true to the original design. Simple and slick looking with the perfect shade of gold on his suit and a rainbow effect through the “honeycomb” on his chest. The main thing I like about the figure is it's huge! Over 12 inches tall and with some serious weight to him, I've been impressed and desired this figure for years and was finally lucky enough to acquire one through Planet Retro Gallery care of my wife for Valentines day.

Baltan figure from Ultraman by Bandai

Baltan has always been a character I considered the quintessential Ultraman villain. Some of the first stills I ever saw in a magazine about Ultraman was him and Baltan locked in an epic battle. Over the years Baltan has showed up in several of the Ultraman TV shows, each time just slightly different than the last. Out of all the variations, this one has always been my favorite. Simple by some folks standards but I feel this version captures the most pure incarnation of the character. It captures the large metallic claws, Egyptian skirt and shrimp-looking face of this iconic character.

(to a fan like me, it doesn't get much better than this)

This arthropod from outer space is actually one of a race of alien being that came to Earth in microscopic form in the early Ultraman series. As time passes, the alien's powers grow and evolve. His abilities range from an assortment of energy beams that shoot out of claws to being able to shed its skin if too badly damaged in battle. Many people refer to them is "space ninjas" due to their ability to use illusion and stealth techniques. Anyone who's watched the show will never forget Baltan's sinister laugh.

(man, that's a creepy laugh for a space bug)

Here we have Baltan by Bandai from the 1983 release. Just like all Bandai releases, quality and accuracy of the sculpt outweighs paint applications. The figure is molded in a light blue plastic which sort of matches the character's suit in the show. Other than the claws being molded in a sparkly gray, the only other traces of color on the figure is a light dusting of metalic gold on the upper torso and head. There is an accent of orange on the eye cavities and what looks like maybe some silver paint underneath it to bring out a general “glow” about them.

The one aspect I like about my personal figure is the scribble on his back. A series of Japanese characters “branded” on his backside, more than likely a name. I think it makes it totally awesome because this really belonged to some child who probably liked this toy as much or more than I do to personalize it. It has a real history behind it that may never be unlocked, but some things are meant to be a mystery.

Sharkticon warrior by Hasbro/Takara

(I think the movie starts in 3 days)

My first introduction to the Sharkticons was in the Transformers movie. The character was utilized afterwards in the cartoon series, but their performance was most memorable in the movie. Used as the personal army to the Quintessons, the Sharkticons sole purpose was to catch intruders and either bring them to so-called “justice” by their masters or render the intruders to a scrap pile of leftover parts. When their Quintesson masters delivered sentence (and it always ended poorly), the accused was dropped into a watery pit full of these living garbage disposals where their fate was ultimately to become a mere snack.

(innocent?)

The character is one of my top 5 favorites in the Transformers legend and it's gotten very little love since the 80's. The design is really unique and hasn't been replicated in years, rows of chrome teeth and eerie neon green eyes are the main highlights on the figure. In primary mode he looks the most show accurate. The large head that starts to tapper off as you get closer to the tail, frail looking front arms offset by the larger hind legs and the tail tipped with a spiked ball makes the character look like more of a hybrid between a tadpole and a piranna. In robot mode the design is kind of lacking. The best thing I can say about it's robot mode is the head is amazingly accurate and well detailed. The real overall detraction for me is the legs. I'm not sure if they are to long but they are deffinately too close together, causing the figure to be top heavy and suffering several face plants off my shelves, risking damaging or breaking the toy.

Being a Transformer of the 80's, the construction of the Sharkticon is sturdy but if you apply too much pressure to the joints you'll run a risk of snapping the plastic components. Newer Transformer toys are equipt with pressure sensitive ball joints that purposely snap out of place when too much pressure is applied. You simply snap the limb back in and continue playing, just that simple. Many a Transformer of the 80's suffered battle wounds that had to be super glued into place, ultimately ruining the play value and eventually ending up in the garbage. But, such was the fate of many toys and thus bringing about the sometimes unholy cost of purchasing some of these toys from our childhood.

Powered Aboras from Ultraman by Bandai

Ultraman has had such a colorful array of evil monsters to battle over the years. Some of them range from the totally believable to the extremely bizarre and everywhere in between. Over the years his villains have gone through amazing overhauls where their physical appearance and abilities have been augmented with technology and magical powers. As the Ultraman saga has evolved over the last several decades, so has he and his opponents. Aboras is one of those many characters

(a shot of the original costume. Lots of reused elements)

(not only a battle of the behemoths, but in a stadium no less) 

Often being mistaken for a blue Godzilla-like creature by those not aware of it, this creature has been around since some of the most early incarnations of the saga. In the Ultraman Powered story, Aboras is one of two ancient devil beasts (or kaiju) sealed away in a magical sarcophagus' long ago in an attempt to save the world from their terror. His arch-nemesis is Banila, a red bipedal monster with almost matched skills. When both tombs were “accidentally” unearthed, both of these titans decided to battle it out until only one was left standing. In the first incarnation, Aboras won and was destroyed shortly after by Ultraman. The second time around Aboras seemed to be victorious but Banila reformed and both were destroyed by Ultraman and the WINR by using a combination of high frequency sound to stun them and a Mega Spectrum Ray to vaporize them.

(new and improved)

Aboras' reintroduction into the Ultraman saga was met with a complete upgrade. Because of budget constraints, Aboras was an altered Red King costume painted blue and a new head. The Powered version has a really cool tyrannosaurus rex look with a tadpole-like tail while keeping the more elongated arms and horn on his head. The figure captures every aspect of the redesign, especially capturing every single bumpy scale along the body. It's a really substantial toy and feels really good in your hand. He's not really oversized to any degree, just big considering the fact he's a friggin' mutant T-Rex. The figure fits in well with the rest of the series and (from what I can tell) is in scale. 

Centurions Ace McCloud flashlight from Kenner

Centurions: Power X Treme was a half hour American cartoon brought to us by Ruby-Spears and animated in Japan by Sunrise in 1985 as a 5 part miniseries with was followed up by a 60 episode season in late 1986. Comic book legends Jack Kirby and Gil Kane contributed to the design and concepts of the show and some of our favorite voice actors of 80's cartoon lent a hand at bringing the characters to life. Kenner brought the world of Centurions to toy store shelves and DC Comics provided a comic book series that was sold all over the world.

Centurions was a great series of 8 inch scale action figures with the ability to “plug” in upgrades to take on any challenge, much like the TV show. The line was comprised of 3 three heroes(Ace McCloud, Max Ray and Jake Rockwell), 2 villains (Hacker and Doc Terror) and about a dozen or so add-on kits to make taking on challenges on land, in the sea or in the air easier. About 32 holes lined the heroes jumpsuits where you could mix and match upgrade pieces, giving a sense of creativity to any kid who played with them. It was such a hit at retail that Remco (famous for knock-off toys) made their own version called Man-Tech. It Never had a chance and only lasted a few months at retail before hitting clearance.

Along with full sized figures, Kenner made a series of 3 ¾ inch figures outfitted with flashlights or binoculars. The figures themselves were almost identical to their larger counterparts with only a few exceptions. I think it could have grown more popular if they had pushed the 3 ¾ figures harder with actual mission specific attachments. Mind you not every figure in the set was as cool as Ace McCloud here, the Doc Terror figure really blows since the flashlight is permanently stuck in his chest.

Ace McCloud here is the perfect scale to slide into a GI Joe or Star Wars battle. Poseable at the shoulders and hips, the figure loses articulation at the elbows and knees which is the only place this figure fails. Ace still has all the ports on him the 8 inch figure does , which makes me think where this line could have gone at a smaller scale. The red rocket backpack takes 1 AA battery and is wired to the lamp head, which will plug into the figure wherever you can find a hole. The only other minus I’ve found about the figure is the lack of removable helmet, but depending who you are is the real deciding factor whether this ruins the toy for you. All things considered, it's a really cool pocket-sized interpretation of the figure that kids of the 80's could have taken with them everywhere.