Revo: GR-2

I have gone retro retro-anime. Some of you may be old enough to remember Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot. It was a dub of a tokusatsu show actually called Giant Robo. Well, back in the early 90's (just a couple of years before anime hit it big in mainstream North America) Giant Robo was remade into a retro-styled anime with martial artists doing impossible stunts and larger than life robot smashing action. Revoltech paid tribute to this 7-part OVA with Giant Robo and his nemesis GR-2.

Actually, as I blogged before, I had Giant Robo a full two weeks ago (and it's been out for much longer). But you know, until today, it didn't make the jump from moderately interesting all the way up to "total coolness." That's because GR-2 actually comes with an additional piece of the most memorable scene from the Giant Robo show...

...but before I get there, here's a closer look at GR-2...
...and that's about it, because, really, GR-2 is a rather plain action figure.

The scene I'm talking about was that after several episodes of crazy robot fighting, we had already seen Giant Robo fire storms of rockets and missiles. We had seen that Giant Robo was studded with enormous cannons. But that wasn't all there was... fans were treated to his ultimate weapon: his flight-pack turned out to be a gigantic bazooka!

I distinctly recall watching this in a darkened room at the University of Quebec in Montreal with members of Club Animate. And although everyone had their personal favourite (including people who didn't necessarily like Giant Robo), the crowd erupted with thunderous applause and laughter and cheering. I mean, really, that was on the level of watching the Death Star blow up for the first time.

Anyway, without rambling on further, here's a closer look at the extra pieces that came with GR-2 that make for the "deployed bazooka":So anyway, here's a final photo of what Robo looks like stock for comparison: