Robo Formers is a redub of Starvengers, itself a dub of Getter Robo G.  Yeah, imagine my surprise when I did the research and found out the weird shit I’m watching turns out to be co-created by Go Nagai.

I actually wasn’t all that surprised considering GO NAGAI (though he really didn’t have all that much to do with it).

But still…

That’s just… wow.  And everything about this release screams cheap, right down to the video tape itself.

I don’t know if you can tell, but look at the broken plastic in the square indentation on the front:

That’s from a broken recording tab.  Commercial VHS cassettes are made without a recording tab.  These guys actually used the kind of blank tapes you buy at supermarkets.

On Wikipedia I even found proof that one copy of Robo Formers was taped over a National Geographic video.  I am not surprised.

And now for the title card:

 

And with that, pretty much all the humor derived from this anime have been posted.  The recap is pretty much just a formality.

We start off with the Starvengers (apparently they’re still called Starvengers instead of Robo Formers) are trying to track down the mobile fortress of the Pandemonium Empire.

By the way, try as I might, I can’t remember any of the Starvengers’ names.  I WOULD rewatch it just to get their proper names, but this tape actually flickers every few seconds, and it was a pain just trying to get clear caps.  Luckily, they don’t have much character.  But even so, let’s fail at a rundown:

The main character seems to be this guy.  I call him Ace.  I think his name was much longer though.

The other two of the three-man team are the obvious second and the fat guy wearing catchers gear.  So I’m gonna call them Lance and Catcher.

Or rather, I was GOING to call that guy Lance, but that just triggered my memory.  His name is… Paladin.  Yeah.  His NAME is Paladin.  Can’t make that up.

Of course, we gotta have the kid and the chick.  I took this screencap specifically because it looks like the kid is tripping out.  The kid’s only in one scene and I don’t think his name was ever said, so… let’s see… I’m gonna call him Trippy.  The chick… Hmmm… Honey?  Honey.

I WILL be using these names.  Just keep in mind they’re not the actual names.  Also keep in mind that due to the nature of the dub, they’re just as legitimate as the dub names, so I don’t give a damn.

Anyway, the Pandemonium Empire is a pretty big organization with lots of mooks, but for the most part the focus seems to be just these guys…

The Emperor is at center, naturally.  The old guy at the right is pretty chill.  And on the left is… yeah, that’s Hitler.  Actually, his name is Captain Fuhrer, which only makes him sound cooler.  It’s also easy to remember.  It should be no surprise that it’s also the name said the most.

An SOS from a ship leads the Starvengers team to where they believe is the location of the mobile fortress.  Along the way, they pick up a survivor… only, it turns out to have been a demon in disguise.

Ace fights off the demon and defeats him by punching him in the face about five times.

The Starvengers eventually find the mobile fortress, which proves to be heavily armed.  By the way, the Starvengers pilot three planes, which combine to form a robot… but the form of the robot changes depending on the order the three planes combine in… and the forms are so different, it’s ridiculous.

Of the three forms, I only remember there being a Poseidon Form and Dragon Form.

The Starvengers have their hands full just evading the fortress’s barrage of attacks, unable to find an opening.  But then they realize all their weapons are pointed upward to nullify aerial attacks… making them completely vulnerable to attacks from surface level and below.

That’s… kind of a huge oversight for a moving marine fortress.

To keep the Starvengers busy, some fodder is thrown at them.

It doesn’t take long for the Starvengers to beat the decoy, but its job is accomplished, and the mobile fortress has somehow evaded them.

Seriously, how can they not find something this huge?

Well, the Empire is forced to stay in their hiding spot or risk detection.  It is then that a man (He’s a Lieutenant and the son of who I think was an important character earlier in the series) appears before the Emperor and suggests they go with a bold plan to capture the Starvengers robot and steal its power source.  It just involves using the mobile fortress as bait.  It’s absurdly high risk, but if he succeeds in the plan, he demands to be promoted to General.  The Emperor agrees, and Captain Fuhrer is pissed, since it means he’ll be outranked.  And y’know… rank is everything to people in evil organizations.

While the Lieutenant prepares for his scheme, he reminisces about his father, who was labeled a traitor, forever shaming his family’s name.  This victory will restore honor to the clan.  Oh, and he knows that Captain Fuhrer framed his father.  And when Captain Fuhrer shows up, he tells his suspicions to his face.  Which is always a good idea.  I mean, Captain Fuhrer was planning to screw him over anyway, but now he DEFINITELY has to screw him over to prevent anyone from knowing what he did.

So…

A certain “accident” happens.  But don’t worry; this was just a warning accident.

The mobile fortress attacks a city, forcing the Starvengers to respond.  They can’t make a dent into the fortress, but when the Lieutenant tries to duel the Starvengers robot, he loses and is forced to escape into the fortress.  The Starvengers take this opportunity to follow him into the opening… right into his trap.

The robot is quickly shackled, and the PRECISE power source extraction device is readied.

It seems victory for the Empire is at hand.  But then Captain Fuhrer smiles, and the giant buzzsaw breaks apart, allowing the robot to break free.  One of the Lieutenant’s mooks attacks him, and it turns out to have been one of Captain Fuhrer’s agents all along.

As the Starvengers make their escape, they hear the dying words of the Lieutenant.  “This victory is not yours!”  The Starvengers seem to acknowledge this, but… hey, mission complete!

And screw finally beating those accursed Starvengers.  MUH RANK!

Emotion: 3
Surprisingly moving.  Sure, it’s pretty much the same themes I’d seen from other sci-fi anime of the era like Star Blazers, Voltron and Mobile Suit Gundam, but being in such company is hardly a bad thing.  Though it is admittedly MUCH closer to Voltron on that spectrum.

Pleasure Rating: Guilty Pleasure
It’s pretty much just a gimmicky premise sugarcoated with average sci-fi drama, but if it works, it works.
Rewatchability: 2
Nothing particularly special, but could be worth a revisit if I go back and watch the series from the beginning.

Music: Forgettable
Standard 70’s fare.  Nothing seemed to really stand out, but it sounded appropriate for the most part.

Marketability: 4
Obviously, this is a big toy-pusher.  Just think about it.  You have three jets that combine to create a robot, and there are three different robots.  The designs aren’t all that great by my standards, but they were at least unique and not ugly.  The characters themselves, on the other hand… pretty forgettable and downright silly.  Especially Catcher.  And yet, after all these years, why am I still surprised that there not only is a sexy figurine of Honey…. THERE’S A NUDE VARIANT.

Overall, Robo Formers was cheaply made, and is quite possibly blatant theft of Starvengers, but the source material is just strong enough to bleed through.  It wasn’t a particularly bad watch at all.  It wasn’t a particularly mindblowing one either, and it was pretty camp.  But hey, that’s about the best one could hope for when it came to these old dubbed anime.  But the voices were pretty bad.  Occasionally, the emphasis was placed on the wrong words.  Honey had this weird half-Australian accent that I couldn’t peg down.  And there was a scientist character on the Starvengers’ side who was large and had a goofy tie, but his voice was completely serious and deadpan.  Strange direction all around.  But still about par for the course considering the era.  Really no worse than Voltron’s dub.  Possibly even better.

But that video editing… gah.

Anyway, this review took me longer than I thought.  I’ll try to do two more over the weekend.  Anime-wise, the top of my pile is Gunbuster and Kimba the White Lion.  Crap-wise, I’ve got Boa (starring Dean Cain!) and Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow (starring Jackie Chan!).   Hmm… I should probably save those two for some kind of snake theme week.