Beyond Transformers: Super Sentai's Answer to Fortress Maximus? (ft. Magma Base)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- Shortly before Super Sentai came to the United States as Power Rangers, it experimented with releasing enormous, Fortress Maximus-scale transforming playsets, and the most ambitious of these was Fiveman's Magma Base!
Good stuff. DX Max Magma is the best Sentai base robo of them all, IMO.
Just an FYI - the head serves as the control deck/bridge for the Magma base and is not a "jet". The white part that flips out in the back is the launch pad for Star Carrier/Star Five. You're also missing 2 small twin satellite dishes on the robot mode's arms. Also a fun fact: the gimmick where it houses Super Fiverobo inside was supposed to emulate the "kokeshi" (Japanese nesting doll). Would be great if you had Fiverobo and Starfive to showcase the toy in all its glory.
@@princellandelar1269 thanks for all of this! I definitely want to obtain both Fiverobo and Star Carrier and hope to obtain both this year.
I love this for the same reasons I loved King Pyramider from the Sentai that became Rangers Zeo. But you're right, it was *not* a playset it was just a giant toy.
Pyramidar was certainly one of a kind. I just always wanted him to do more for the amount of space he took up.
Huge fan of King Pyramider! When it came out, game over for the enemies!
As I recall in the TV series, Super Fiverobo can combine with Magma Base to create Max Magma. Yeah, I doubt any monster-of-the-week would survive a bombardment of cannons from that gigantic mecha base.
The 5 siblings who are the main heroes really grew up without their parents, I never saw the rest of the show after the Gaku's Secret episode.
Thanks for this! Did you stop watching because the quality fell off or for some other reason?
@@classiccomicsforum The Sony Trinitron lf my gramps got damaged so no TV for us for two months. My most boring teen times.
I’ve always taught my boys a good play set should have a jail cell and an elevator. They are few and far between in the modern age!
6:40, oh...I SEE!! Thanks, man. This looks GREAT!
7:28, Just can't get enuf! Don't you cry, baby~ - Bombrush Cyberfunk and that song is awesome!!
There are the Donbrothers Mechas and yeah, they are 35 cm HUUUGE! They're freakin' amazing!
8:30, the Japanese really love Power Rangers. It's the purists that are insane.
10:48, the head plane reminds me a lot of Voltes V and Daimos tbh.
11:25, what's to stop anyone from using this as a docking bay for any Sentai or Ranger Zord bay?
For Fiveman, check out Kaiju No Kami's review of Fiveman. He only reviews the series but it's a start.
Jetman was where Toei wanted to end the Sentai series but due to how amazingly written the show was, they continued and well, Zyuranger came to be and I don't have to say much about it if anyone knows about MMPR's success in the 90's.
Thanks! This is really helpful info. As for your comments:
10:48: Absolutely. Dairugger XV too.
11:25. Some won't fit. Bioman, for example, is slightly too large.
@@classiccomicsforum Just one thing, will there be a comparison between the Don Onitaijin, Don ToraDragonjin and the Magma Base in size comparison?
Oh yeah, Dairugger too. Hehe.
Ahh, interesting.
Also, no prob sir!
Ok, I just found out something. On Namu Wiki's max magma page. They have a bit of history on the toy itself.
'The list price at the time of release was a whopping 16,800 yen, which was excessively expensive. As a result, the price was too burdensome for most families to spend even as a gift for their children all at once, and of course it was bound to become bad inventory. In the end, even though it sold nearly 500 yen at the end of the year , it was not enough to boost sales at the last minute.
Since the product development of Max Magma ended in a disastrous failure, base-type large toys in the Super Sentai series disappeared for the time being, ending with Max Magma.
When the DX Giant Base Max Magma toy was released, a video tape explaining the combination with a running time of 15 minutes was included, and at this time, Ryohei Kobayashi, who plays Fumiya Hoshikawa of Five Black, and Keiko Hayase, who plays Remi Hoshikawa of Five Yellow, used the toy. Introducing. This is the second video produced since Chosu Sentai Liveman's live combination set in 1988.'
As for Max Magma's legacy, it was used in crossovers but recently, it was featured as a monster in Donbrothers in ep 7 called 'Crowd of Teachers' which was a Fiveman tribute.
There was also a robot from Super Robot Wars that has the same head as Max Magma. I dunno what it was but it was an SRW Original mech.
There's quite a hefty bunch of base Robos/playsets such as the single mechs that form Muteki Daishogun (since they were castles), King Pyramider/Pyramidas, Victrailer/Artilletron, Galaxy Mega, Dekabase, Orion Battler which replaced the Orion from Kyuranger, Gigant Brachio from Kyoryuger, Brachiozord from Dinothunder/Abaranger and King Caucasus Base from King Ohger so yeah, there's no shortage of base mechas. They're just done differently.
@@ZZtheDark give me time to get them all first! 😂
@@classiccomicsforum Aye. Will do.
04:01 reminds me of Grandus?
There's certainly a resemblance, though I much prefer Magma Base. I wouldn't be surprised if Grandus had been an inspiration to Bandai's designers as the previous Turbo Builder transformed just like Grandus.
Rolling aircraft carrier: check
Painfully simple ‘conversion’: check
‘Bot mode is so thicc, looks like aspect ratio is FUBAR: check
Claw hands: check
Obscure as hell: check
Secretly more awesome than it has any right to be: check
‘It’s the same picture.’
I grew up with my G1 Fortress Maximus and has always been my favorite plaset base. While the Titans Return version came with lights, sounds, and modern egineering that allows greater posability. I find it a bit disapointing as it's predessor's successor. Not only was it seriously lacking all it's weaponry, including it's iconic waist cannons. (Unless you got the SDCC or Japanese versions that got the sword.) It was also missing the two extra rooms that were on the legs for it's base mode, and the helipad/turret on the left leg was the saddist after thought I've ever seen. Thank goodness for 3rd party companies for coming to the rescue to fix most of those issues. I want Hasbro/Takara to go back and redo this guy eventually to fix thos mistakes. I understand the issues they have with his guns, and can't fault them on that part. Especially since his hand guns would cause issues with modern toy laws at that size.
I never had magma baser so it's hard for me to relate. Maybe I'll have to eventually get one to see for myself it's charm.
@@ZedMazaus480 I'm with you on all the wasted opportunities that happened with the new Fortress Maximus. Really, I think all of the new Titans could have had stronger base modes, but that just wasn't the priority for the designers, unfortunately.
fantastic! Great review 🎉🎉🎉
@@bingbongtoysKY thank you!
I grew up in the 90s but I fondly remember the Mighty Max toyline and its huge Skull Mountain playset. Huge for Mighty Max mind you, which was a tiny, Polly Pocket for boys line. Arguably the entirety of Mighty Max is all mini playsets.
So Turbo Builder is basically Grandus?
We need more robot bases. I have the new Diaclone Reboot Giant Robot Base and it might be the best toy I will ever own.
Yes, I adore the new GRB and have considered doing an episode on him. Still not sure how I feel about the Diaclone reboot as a whole since it just feels so thoroughly not like a transforming robot series (even though it has robots that alter their forms).
And I'd say Turbo Builder is closer in inspiration to Daitetsujin 17 than Grandus.
For bases in Sentai, they brought the King Caucasus Castle that forms a robot in King Ohger.
Worth noting that in the past, Bandai had done playsets before, just not specifically in the form of mecha, in the way of super sentai, in 1977 JAKQ had the JAKQ command playset to go with its 4 inch figure line, and then for metal heroes, in 1987 Metalder had 2 playsets, the ghost bank and the silver caucus, and in 1988 Jiraiya had a playset in the form the secret ninja manor, however turbo builder was the first time a playset had been specifically compatible with a line mech system
Great point. I considered going into the history of bases with super robots in Japan, but ultimately left that out. Discussing Sentai bases, in particular, would have been a worthwhile approach!
Damn Magma base. It's been 10+ years and I still don't own one ever since starting my collecting again. My Fiverobo and Star Carrier are feeling lonely. These used to be like $200~300 10 years ago and now they're like $700 especially with box. It still hurts me to this day as somebody who actually watched Fiveman and Turboranger as a kid. It's Magma Base and Turbo Builder that's kinda my base type Holy grails that I still don't have. I got a King Pyramider already from Japan so it's the proper one with the sparkly plastic for cheap years ago but the other 2 bases are still elusive to me and again, it's not really a priority to me to buy at this point cause of how just expensive they got.
Also Fiveman is kinda considered as the worst Sentai series actually. I believe they said they almost cancelled the franchise just because of how bad it was. I loved it though, but now I'm an adult, yeah some of the stuff were kinda cringe like the puppet section and shit that was actually my favorite part growing up. I love the puppet segments they introduced like mid series.
9:21 that's the launch pad for the Star Carrier, aka the second Fiveman robot.
13:24 There's a lot of info about Sentai stuff at grnrng(dot)com and the Ranger Wiki. It has a whole section just for Sentai series.
Thanks for this info! The prices are coming down, so maybe Magma Base will finally be yours again. I only paid $200 for mine.
I know very little about Super Sentai on the whole. However, I can tell you the exact reason Magma Base is so important to you. It's the same reason the Turtle Blimp was so important to me:
"Because it's cool."
@@citizen_grub4171 well said!
Tbh, GI Joe ARAH had some of the best playsets of all time. Not that my parents ever bought them for me 😂 This is more partsforming than transforming, but still a pretty cool, chonky boi base mode. Thanks for sharing!
What I wouldn't give for reissues of the FLAGG, Terrordrome, and Defiant!
80s toys were the best.
@@travishoel3755 70s had cool toys, too, but 80s had more cool toys for sure. 👍
close enough, welcome back grandus
There are certainly similarities. I definitely prefer Magma Base.
Bandai was doing pretty good as they just had introduced the super combo 2 robots formation with liveman a year before Turbo ranger. Turbo Ranger did well with Turbo builder but Fiveman had all sorts of issues, Economy went bust again. The man writer for SHOWA era from Bioman onwards was on his last leg writing Fiveman before he retired and it was just too Tropey and kiddish. Bandai started cheapening out of the plastic quality with Fiveman Mecha and Magma Base was notoriously shoddy construction compared to previous mother bases. Bandai sold Magma Base at a loss and included the VHS bundle to entice people. The back pad on the base is for the Second support Robo STAR FIVE for when its in its ship mode it acts as the launch bay.
Thanks for all of this!
I"m sorry, but I don't see how this guy is better then fort max in base mode. Especially when fort max gives you more to with as a base with more ramps and play features that can give way more fodder for imagination play then what this toy offers. And looks more like an actual base to me instead of just being a single building that would be part of a base.
No reason to be sorry, Starsaber. You like what you like. I like something that looks like an actual building and doesn't clearly look like a robot in a different mode.
Magma Base looks cool. I have no idea that existed. I do love Fortress Maximus but I still love the Dino Zords, Dragonzord and Titanus
They're all a lot of fun, aren't they?
@@classiccomicsforum yep
One of my favorite molds I wished I had.
Took me two decades to track one down for an affordable price. I wish you speedier luck!
Speaking of Playsets, I wonder if you could possibly look into a grail of mine that's been occupying a place in the back of my mind for decades; Could you look into the Gobotron Fortress? The guy at Super Toy Archive really ticked me off when he said he had seen one, but didn't buy it! If it weren't for him, I'd have written it off as something that was never produced...
Oh, it's on my list. One of these days, it'll be mine, and when it is, there will be a video.
It was and still is a great time to be a toy nerd!!!!!!!!!
I want to build a Arc playset for my human alliance transformers and build it to scale! I'll have to hang it on the wall in my basement, but it will be worth it!
In some ways the head transformation reminds me of all of the Mazinger cockpit transformations and it becomes the head. Have you ever seen the Gai King Dragon base from Soul Of Chogokin? That’s a huge piece but very expensive, close to $800 or so.
@@willisjackson7029 oh yes. Nice looking piece!
GIJoe Aircraft carrier and the base, terrordome,rolling base can't remember the name, castle grayskull definitely. I KNOW I'm forgetting a lot of them. Micromachines had some good ones. Those guys who looked like M.A.S.K. and had bungee cords on their backs connected to hooks on their arms with GREAT vehicles that slid across lines attached to doors and walls..Sky commanders ?? Oh and MASK...sooo many. Sadly NONE of the Transformers were remotely decent until the new MASSIVE titans with magic square tiny cartoon accurate Transformers characters ❤❤❤❤❤
Hmm, ok i'm sold to it. It does look better as a base than a robot.
Definitely. They could have given the arms and hands more joints at the very least, but that would have added to the price tag of an already expensive product, I suppose. But yes, I adore that base mode, and I'm so glad you do too!
You should buy godkingohger or gigantkyoryuzin
Great taste!
I have to wonder how this parallels with the original Diaclone Robot Base
Pretty different. No command center, for one. No escalater either. Maybe the easiest way to break down the difference is GRB emphasized what happens inside the base whereas Magma Base focused on a believable exterior.
@@classiccomicsforum I was mostly commenting on how it plays into the "big playset toy that's also a robot" thing, but I haven't finished the video yet- intesterestjng to hear!
@@TiMona42 thanks much!
The whole video I was distracted by the massive tower of Construx, what's the story on that? I had several sets of those as a kid, made all sorts of crazy stuff with them.
@@mrjasonsinco great eye! I used to run this little corner of the world wide web: construxion.tripod.com/
Your video will be perfect if you introduce first the TRANSFORMERS who inspire the TURBO BUILDER playset... GRANDUS from RETURN OF THE CONVOY.
Talk about bricks! I definitely should include Grandus if only to make Magma Base look like the height of articulation 😂
In all seriousness, I really wanted a Grandus for a while, but I've always felt the price was out of line for how available the toy is.
I have a variety of Japanese transforming robot toys and I use a translator app to read what the packages and booklets say.
@@joshuachristian5443 which app?
@@classiccomicsforum I use google translate to translate with the use of a picture.
@@willisjackson7029 I didn't realize google translate could work with pictures. Thanks for the tip!
This is the couch potato robot, timy head, huge and squat body. It's unusual looking due to those things and probably why it really didn't sell a lot
Turbobuilder isn’t bad, considering Transformers Jumpstarters are folded-over on their back.👍
Well don't get me started on Jumpstarters either! :)
@@classiccomicsforumI know… LOL I did find and buy a KO Metroplex a while back, just so I have an example of this wild time in toys. I don’t know about Magma Base, but I know something of vintage big robot toys. So, do the fingers have rocket launchers, like the large Samurai Warriors? Also, it might be OK for the legs to be one piece, as some sci-fi giant robots would hover/roll. 3D printing is a wonderful way of restoring/enhancing toys. I’ve bought many 3D printed parts. I do know, while shopping China/Japan sites, Google Translate can translate for a an entire web page, if you paste in its URL. I also hit on an english Magma Base site, so 👍.
@@classiccomicsforum I know… LOL I can definitely forgive “folding” more for a large robot/base. I didn’t see it - do Magma Base’s figures have “Shogun-Warriors-like” finger launchers? The one piece legs may not be that odd, if the original robot hovered instead of walking. Many 70’s robots didn’t move by walking. I really like that 3D printers are helping collectors fix/upgrade their broken/incomplete/bland toys/collectibles. I’ve bought some replacement/upgrade items. The era of HQs/bases is so fascinating, that I ran across a KO Metroplex and bought it. So worth it. One last note - in case you only find non-English sites - when this happened to me, I discovered how Google Translate can translate whole web pages, just by supplying the URL. Anyhow, fascinating toy, and very entertaining show, as always…
@@classiccomicsforum I know… LOL I can forgive “folding” more for a large robot/base, though. Does Magna Base have “Samurai-Warrior-like” finger launchers? The single piece for the legs might not be weird if the robot “hovered” instead of walking or rolling. I remember many 70s robots hovering/rolling. So glad to see 3D printers making replacement/upgrade parts for older toys. I’ve bought several replacement/upgrade parts. The HQs/bases era is so fascinating, that when I ran across a KO Metroplex, I bought it. So worth it. One last note - regarding searching non-English sites - you can use a feature of Google Translate, to translate entire web pages, by just supplying the URL. Anyhow, fascinating toy, and great show, as always.
@@ronaldpaterni5081 no finger launchers for Magma Base, regrettably. Truly feels like someone at Bandai had said, "if you add ONE more feature or point of articulation to this already super expensive toy, you're fired. No elbows, no wrists, no fingers. Each arm is one big plastic log, and that's going to be fine."
what about DekaBase?
Good call. That was quite a while later, but it certainly is a base. I always tend to think of it as more of a carrier, but it's right there in the name.
The world doesnt revolve around America, this is loved in Asia and Europe. That VHS had marketing ads not Episodes.
@@tokutraveler9394 no, but the intended audience of my video is people who don't know about the amazing toys and shows produced in Asia. Thus, I am primarily addressing them.
What about power rangers zeo pyramidus all of its modes
I do mention Pyramidus in the video. Yes, you can technically count him as a base, though certainly not a conventional one. Fun and enormous toy, nonetheless!
Other world looks cool
Fun
dude construx i had those!
Always love finding other fans of Construx! Maybe I need to start doing some Construx videos...
@@classiccomicsforum heck ya!