We’ve had the honor and pleasure of covering some LEGO Ideas submissions based on anime franchises before. For the most part however, these product ideas depict characters, vehicles etc. from more recent anime properties. Take for instance one of the 10-K-supported submissions for the Third 2021 Review Stage. It was one heck of a depiction of “Naruto,” one of the original “Big Three” 2000s anime, right? But the medium has been around for decades, and we’ve seen anime builds dating from older properties. This new fully-supported product idea from Ideas member Mitsu-san78 really pushes the limit on uncommon anime media.
“Daitarn 3” is a “super robot” anime series from 1978. It was created by Yoshiyuki Tomino before he made the original “Mobile Suit Gundam” anime a year later. Mitsu-san78 gives us his brick-built rendition of the Mach Patrol, a transforming car belonging to “Daitarn 3” protagonist Banjo Haran.
As seen in these images, the Mach Patrol is a police cruiser-like car that turns into the Mach Attacker jet.
Banjo uses it on his crusade to protect Earth from the Meganoids, androids hell-bent on converting humanity to be like them. The Mach Patrol also becomes the cockpit of Banjo’s gigantic solar-powered super robot, the Daitarn 3.
Mitsu-san78 devised a dynamic transformation mechanic for the Mach attacker (as the GIF image demonstrates).
Other gimmicks include a sliding roof like in the anime (though one needs to remove the windshield to insert minifigs).
Speaking of, this product idea comes with six minifigures. We have Banjo (in casuals and pilot suit), his assistants/wannabe-girlfriends Beauty and Reika, butler Garrison, and orphaned ward Totta.
Mach Patrol is an incredibly niche aspiring set, but perhaps the transformation mechanics might win support from reviewers. LEGO does need more anime representation, regardless of year.